wipe the floor with someone
English
Verb
wipe the floor with someone (third-person singular simple present wipes the floor with someone, present participle wiping the floor with someone, simple past and past participle wiped the floor with someone)
- (informal) To be well ahead of someone, or to win a competition by a considerable margin over someone.
- The young newcomer is wiping the floor with the more experienced players.
- (informal) To comprehensively beat someone in a fight.
- 1936, F.J. Thwaites, chapter I, in The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards, page 6:
- "Courage? Blast it all, lad, if I were twenty years younger I'd wipe the floor with you now."
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Related terms
- mop the floor with someone
Translations
to win a competition by a considerable margin over the other competitors
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Further reading
- “wipe the floor with”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “wipe the floor with somebody” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.