beat the pants off

present singular third person beats the pants off · participle present beating the pants off · participle past beaten the pants off · alternative lick the pants off · alternative whip the pants off

1. idiomatictransitiveTo thoroughly and decisively defeat someone, either in a physical fight or, figuratively, in a competition.

   American workers can outcompete and beat the pants off anybody, anywhere.

   1987 September 6, Bernard Weinraub, “Reagan Tells Congress to Shun Protectionism”, in New York Times, retrieved 16 Aug 2012

   2 more examples

   Jeffrey Vinik, manager of the $56 billion Fidelity Magellan Fund, the world's largest and most closely watched mutual fund, "beat the pants off the managers of other large funds," in the words of one analyst.

   1996 June 3, John Greenwald et al., “Magellan's New Direction”, in Time

   Their counterparts in Canada, Europe and Japan made less than half as much, sometimes while beating the pants off them in the marketplace.

   2001 June 24, Janice Castro, “Business”, in Time

   Synonyms: clobber