verb
give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression
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Thugs beat him up when he walked down the street late at night
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The teacher used to beat the students
• Hyponyms:
↑strong-arm, ↑soak, ↑pistol-whip, ↑belabour, ↑belabor, ↑rough up, ↑flog, ↑welt, ↑whip, ↑lather, ↑lash, ↑slash, ↑strap, ↑trounce, ↑cane, ↑lambaste, ↑lambast, ↑knock cold, ↑knock out, ↑kayo, ↑thrash, ↑thresh, ↑lam, ↑flail, ↑clobber, ↑baste, ↑batter, ↑spank, ↑paddle, ↑larrup
• Entailment: ↑hit
• Verb Frames:
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Somebody ——s somebody
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transitive verb1. : to subject to thorough examination or study or treatment
shelf stock would get thoroughly worked over as shoppers sought out packages with the latest dates — Modern Packaging
spent some time in working over the available books — A.T.Weaver
working over not only the edge and point but the entire surface of their artifacts — A.L.Kroeber
2.
a. : to do over : rework
worked over the old furniture
b. : to revise or alter radically or systematically
3.
a. : to beat up or manhandle especially with deliberate thoroughness
b. : to pick the pockets of
c. : to subject to thorough or systematic artillery fire, bombing, or strafing
destroyers had worked over the point with their five-inch guns — Bill Alcine
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work over
1. To do or work at thoroughly or elaborately
2. To examine in detail
3. To beat up, thrash (slang; workˈ-over or workˈing-over noun)
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Main Entry: ↑work
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ˌwork ˈover [transitive] [present tense I/you/we/they work over he/she/it works over present participle working over past tense worked over past participle worked over] informal phrasal verb
to injure someone severely by hitting them
Main entry: work
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work over [phrasal verb]
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Main Entry: ↑work
Useful english dictionary. 2012.