lay into

present singular third person lays into · participle present laying into · participle past laid into · past laid into

1. colloquialTo beat up or launch an attack against; to strike forcefully.

   The U.S. ships did the nautical version of someone stuck in a pub when the chairs and glass starts flying, who just looked around, shrugged their shoulders, and immediately lays into the nearest combatant.

   2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 11:26 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN), archived from the original on 17 Oct 2022

   1 more example

   A very spirited affair it looked with its red body and yellow wheels, bouncing about on its high C springs [...] with its four horses going full stretch and two postilions in knee-cords and top-boots laying into the horses in a lather of dust and excitement.

   1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 16

2. colloquialfigurativelyTo berate; to scold.

   Indeed, after laying into Volodymyr Zelensky, the embattled president of an embattled Ukraine, in the Oval Office last year, Mr. Trump noted with satisfaction that “this is going to be great television.”

   2026 March 16, Peter Baker, “In Choosing ‘Epic Fury,’ Trump Names a War and Defines His Presidency”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

3. colloquialTo start eating voraciously.

   I'm gonna lay into that ice cream later tonight.