drubbing

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of drub

plural drubbings

1. A severe beating.

   His mother gave him a drubbing after finding out he'd been stealing.

   1 more example

   Yet upon its release in Germany the first world war drama has been at the receiving end of a critical drubbing, with critics complaining that it turns a beloved literary classic into a spectacle “horny for an Oscar”, and military historians bemoaning its “black-and-white” historical inaccuracies.

   2023 January 27, Philip Oltermann, “German critics pan Oscar-nominated All Quiet On the Western Front”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

2. A thorough defeat.

   The debate team got a drubbing from the competition.

   3 more examples

   Leighton Baines's deflected free-kick added yet more late gloss to the drubbing, the Everton player celebrating his first competitive start with England's first goal direct from a free-kick since David Beckham scored against Ecuador at the 2006 World Cup.

   2012 September 7, Dominic Fifield, “England start World Cup campaign with five-goal romp against Moldova”, in The Guardian

   In a short speech Sunday night after his party’s drubbing, a downcast Mr. Abascal acknowledged that Mr. Sánchez now had the support to block a new government, and could also be sworn in again with the support of the far-left and the separatist parties, or what he called “the support of communists and terrorists.”

   2023 July 24, Jason Horowitz, “What the Collapse of Spain’s Far Right Means Going Forward”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Peter Dutton was a disaster for the Liberals, as the election drubbing showed.

   2025 July 31, Michelle Grattan, “Grattan on Friday: Aggrieved Liberals stamp their feet, testing Sussan Ley’s authority”, in The Conversation