Word.ws English Dictionary

beating the daylights out of

beating the daylights out of is the present participle and gerund of beat the daylights out of.

Meaning of beat the daylights out of

Verb

beat the daylights out of (third-person singular simple present beats the daylights out of, present participle beating the daylights out of, simple past beat the daylights out of, past participle beaten the daylights out of or beat the daylights out of)

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To beat (someone) severely.
    • Punching fast and furiously, I would beat the daylights out of them until they were bloody all over.1993, Lester Sumrall, The Life Story of Lester Sumrall, →ISBN
    Synonyms:
    clobber
  2. (idiomatic, transitive) To defeat (someone) thoroughly and decisively, especially in a physical fight.
    • The guy beat the daylights out of me, and I made a dollar. My wrestling license cost five dollars.2007, Greg Oliver, The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels, →ISBN, page 42

Questions about beating the daylights out of

What is beating the daylights out of the present participle and gerund of?
Beating the daylights out of is the present participle and gerund of beat the daylights out of.

Words near beating the daylights out of in the dictionary

  1. beating the bounds
  2. beating the bushes
  3. beating the clock
  4. beating the cock
  5. beating the crowd
  6. beating the daylights out of
  7. beating the drum
  8. beating the drum for
  9. beating the dummy
  10. beating the dust
  11. beating the hoof

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: beating the daylights out of (page history and authors); beat the daylights out of (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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