knock the stuffing out of

present singular third person knocks the stuffing out of · participle present knocking the stuffing out of · participle past knocked the stuffing out of · past knocked the stuffing out of

1. idiomaticinformalTo cause (someone, a team) to lose energy and confidence.

   Chelsea knocked the stuffing out of Brighton well before the final whistle when they beat them 1-3 at Brighton.

   2 more examples

   "This knocks what is vulgarly termed 'the stuffing' out of the case for the prosecution," observed Carlyle, who had been taking a note.

   1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC

   Added to these woes was the Treasury's demands for across-the-board train operator cost-cutting of broadly 10%. Passenger rail's slow, patchy and fragile recovery had the stuffing knocked out of it once more.

   2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3