go/put somebody through the wringer

go through the wringer

To be subjected to some ordeal, difficulty, trial, or punishment; to undergo an unpleasant experience. Between my mother's bout with cancer, Jenny losing her job, and the bank threatening to foreclose on the house, our family has really gone through the wringer this year. I really had to go through the wringer with that disciplinary hearing.

put someone through the wringer

Fig. to give someone a difficult time; to interrogate someone thoroughly. (Alludes to putting something through an old-fashioned clothes wringer.) The lawyer really put the witness through the wringer! The teacher put the students through the wringer.

go through the wringer

INFORMAL

If you go through the wringer, you experience a very difficult period or situation which makes you ill or unhappy. The last couple of years have been hard for her — she freely admits she has `been through the wringer' in her personal life. Note: You can also say that you are put through the wringer. He was put through the wringer by the tabloids who seemed, for no good reason, to hate him.

go/put somebody through the ˈwringer

(informal) have, or make somebody have, a difficult or unpleasant experience, or a series of them: He’s been through the wringer lately, what with his divorce, and then losing his job. ♢ Those interviewers really put me through the wringer!

In the past, a wringer was a device that squeezed the water out of clothes that had been washed.

See also: go, put, somebody, through, wringer

put (someone) through the wringer

Slang

To subject to a severe trial or ordeal.