knocking into a cocked hat

Verb

knock into a cocked hat (third-person singular simple present knocks into a cocked hat, present participle knocking into a cocked hat, simple past and past participle knocked into a cocked hat)

1. (colloquial, dated, transitive) To beat up or seriously injure (a person); to badly damage (a thing).
   • Tho' I'll tell ye what, stranger, I'm none your mealy mouthed fellows, and I'm little jubus [dubious] that you're one of them there [John Quincy] Adams men. And I've just seen the time that I'd knock sich a fellow into a cocked hat as quick as name it. But [Andrew] Jackson is safe enough and he's...1830 November 13, “A rencounter. From the Connersville, Ind. Political Clarion.”, in Frederick-Town Herald, volume XXIX, number 27, Fredericktown, Md.: […] William Ogden Niles, →OCLC, page 4, column 3

   Synonyms:

   beat into a cocked hat

2. (UK, colloquial, figuratively, transitive) To completely demolish, nullify, overthrow, or otherwise defeat (a person; an argument, idea, or proposition; or a thing).
   • All the original ideas we had were knocked into a cocked hat by the latest survey.

   Synonyms:

   beat into a cocked hat