beat to a pulp

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

beat to a pulp (third-person singular simple present beats to a pulp, present participle beating to a pulp, simple past beat to a pulp, past participle beaten to a pulp or beat to a pulp)

1. (transitive) To beat up (a person) more than usually severely.
   • 2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 251:

     Neanderthals were extremely tough—this is attested to by the thickness of their bones—and were probably capable of beating modern humans to a pulp.

2. (transitive, colloquial, loosely) To defeat severely in various, even non-contact, competitive sports.

Synonyms

• pulp (verb)

Translations

beat up

• Dutch: tot moes slaan, kapotslaan (nl)
• Finnish: piestä (fi), hakata tohjoksi
• French: passer à tabac (fr), tabasser (fr), casser la gueule (fr)
• Hindi: कचूमर निकालना (kacūmar nikālnā)
• Portuguese: cagar no pau (pt)
• Russian: избива́ть до полусме́рти impf (izbivátʹ do polusmérti), изби́ть до полусме́рти pf (izbítʹ do polusmérti)
• Spanish: caerle la del pulpo (Spain, colloquial)

defeat severely

• Finnish: tuhota (fi), piestä (fi)
• French: battre à plate couture (fr), mettre la pâtée (fr)
• Spanish: hacer fosfatina, hacer papilla, hacer puré