knock the living daylights out of
English
Alternative forms
- beat the daylights out of, knock the daylights out of
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
knock the living daylights out of (someone)
- (idiomatic) To beat or strike someone.
- 1939, Ruth McKenney, Industrial Valley, →ISBN, page 255:
- Boy, the fellows said he just knocked the living daylights out of him, bounced him six feet across the ground.
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- (idiomatic) To thoroughly and decisively defeat someone in a physical fight, especially by knocking out that person.
- 1954, Denzil Batchelor, Big Fight: The Story of World Championship Boxing, OCLC 7388776, page 65:
- He won the English championship from the six-foot-three-inch, seventeen-stone Sam Hurst, the Staleybridge Infant, knocking the living daylights out of this champion
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- (figuratively) To greatly excel against (someone or something).
- 1963, “10 second summary”, in Business Management, volume 25, page 38:
- ...where new and better depreciation regulations and a 7% business investment credit knocked the living daylights out of normal and historical accounting procedures...
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Synonyms
- put someone's lights out