knock the living daylights out of

present singular third person knocks the living daylights out of · participle present knocking the living daylights out of · participle past knocked the living daylights out of · past knocked the living daylights out of · alternative beat the daylights out of · alternative knock the daylights out of

1. idiomaticTo beat or strike someone.

   Boy, the fellows said he just knocked the living daylights out of him, bounced him six feet across the ground.

   1939, Ruth McKenney, Industrial Valley, →ISBN, page 255

2. idiomaticTo thoroughly and decisively defeat someone in a physical fight, especially by knocking out that person.

   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

   1954, Denzil Batchelor, Big Fight: The Story of World Championship Boxing, →OCLC, page 65

   Synonyms: clobber

3. figurativelyTo greatly excel against (someone or something).

   ...where new and better depreciation regulations and a 7% business investment credit knocked the living daylights out of normal and historical accounting procedures...

   1963, “10 second summary”, in Business Management, volume 25, page 38