beat hollow

present singular third person beats hollow · participle present beating hollow · participle past beaten hollow · alternative beat all hollow

1. transitiveTo beat up (a person) severely.

   Synonyms: beat to a pulp

2. figurativelytransitiveTo defeat severely.

   […] and every night we had a game of chess, at which he beat me hollow.

   1915, John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps, William Blackwood & Sons, page 9

   2 more examples

   "The Raven" has had a great run ... but I wrote it for the express purpose of running — just as I did "The Gold-Bug" ... the bird beat the bug, though, all hollow.

   1845, Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Thomas Ollive Mabbott, Complete Poems, University of Illinois Press, published 2000, page 351

   The more civilized so-called Caucasian races have beaten the Turks hollow in the struggle for existence.

   1881, Charles Darwin, “letter”, in Darwin Correspondence Database, retrieved 07 Jul 2013