give (someone) a Larry Dooley

dated slang To physically beat someone. The phrase initially referred to famed Australian boxer Larry Foley. It is unclear how the name Larry Dooley came to be used instead. Please, I could give that scrawny twerp a Larry Dooley if I really wanted to. The 33-year-old man admitted to the police that he'd gone out that night with the intention of giving someone a Larry Dooley. Listening to that smug imbecile made me want to just give him a Larry Dooley right then and there.