tar (redirected from whale the tar out)

beat the hell out of someone and beat the living daylights out of someone ; beat the pants off (of) someone; beat the shit out of someone; beat the socks off (of) someone; beat the stuffing out of someone; beat the tar out of someone

1. Fig. to defeat someone very badly. (Caution: the use of the word shit is considered vulgar and is offensive to many people. Of is usually retained before pronouns.) Our team beat the hell out of the other side. We beat the stuffing out of the other side.

2. Fig. Inf. to batter someone severely. (Alludes to physical violence, not the removal of someone's pants. Of is usually retained before pronouns.) The thugs beat the living daylights out of their victim. If you do that again, I'll beat the pants off of you. Before the boxing match Max said he would beat the socks off Lefty.

See also: beat, hell, out

tar and feather someone

to punish or humiliate someone by coating them with tar and feathers. The people of the village tarred and feathered the bank robber and chased him out of town. They threatened to tar and feather me if I ever came back into their town.

See also: and, feather

tarred with the same brush

Fig. sharing the same characteristic(s); having the same good or bad points as someone else. Jack and his brother are tarred with the same brush. They're both crooks. The Smith children are tarred with the same brush. They're all lazy.

See also: brush, same

whale the tar out of someone

Inf. to spank or beat someone. (See also beat the living daylights out of someone.) My father threatened to whale the tar out of me. I'll whale the tar out of you when we get home if you don't settle down.

See also: out, whale

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beat/knock the tar out of somebody   (American informal)

to keep hitting someone hard, or to completely defeat someone We used to fight a lot as kids and he always beat the tar out of me. He was tired of her knocking the tar out of him when they played checkers.

See also: beat, out

spoil the ship for a hap'orth of tar

to spoil something big or important by refusing to spend a small amount of money or make a small amount of effort They spent millions on a wonderful architect-designed building, but they've bought really cheap furniture. It's just spoiling the ship for a hap'orth of tar.

See also: ship, spoil

tar somebody with the same brush

to believe wrongly that someone or something has the same bad qualities as someone or something that is similar (usually passive) I admit that some football supporters do cause trouble but it's not fair that we're all being tarred with the same brush.

See also: brush, same

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beat the hell out of somebody

1. to hit someone hard and repeatedly Bill beat the hell out of me after we started arguing over a girl.

2. to completely defeat someone It's a thrill to beat the hell out of another team in front of 20,000 screaming fans.

Related vocabulary: (it) beats me

See also: beat, hell, out

beat the hell out of something

to be much better than something It wasn't much of a plan, but it beat the hell out of sitting around the office waiting for something to happen.

See also: beat, hell, out

paint somebody/something with the same brush also tar somebody/something with the same brush

to say that someone or something has the same bad qualities as someone or something else When one swimmer uses banned substances, you feel sorry for the others because they are all tarred with the same brush.

See also: brush, paint, same