whaled on

Verb

whale on (third-person singular simple present whales on, present participle whaling on, simple past and past participle whaled on)

1. (slang) To strike an opponent heavily and repeatedly in a fight.
   • If he had been able to break loose from his handlers and the referee, he would have jumped Paret to the floor and whaled on him there.1962, Norman Mailer, The Death of Benny Paret
2. (slang) To beat heavily on anything.
   • The wrench wouldn’t budge, even though Tony was just whaling on it with a big old sledge hammer.