the pants off
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Phrase
[edit]- (idiomatic) An intensifier used with some transitive action verbs to indicate that the action is performed with thoroughness, vigor, or complete success.
- 1937 April 5, “Miscellany”, in Time:
- "And did you also feel like you could whip the pants off any mother's son alive?"
- 1943 December 13, “The Press: Scooped Again”, in Time:
- Reuters had scooped the pants off the U.S. press.
- 1996 June 3, John Greenwald et al., “Magellan's New Direction”, in Time:
- Jeffrey Vinik, manager of the $56 billion Fidelity Magellan Fund, the world's largest and most closely watched mutual fund, "beat the pants off the managers of other large funds," in the words of one analyst.
- 2001 March 16, Christopher Redman Bodelva, “Feast of Eden”, in Time:
- The Eden Project is his medium for getting that message across to the masses without boring the pants off them.
- 2001 September 7, Richard Corliss, “That Old Feeling: Brooks to Broadway: Get Happy”, in Time:
- "Not many people know it, but the Fuhrer was a terrific dancer. He could dance the pants off Churchhill."
- 2004 April 12, Chris Taylor, “Video Games: You Ought to Be in Pixels”, in Time:
- "Doom 3 is just going to terrify the pants off people," says Rob Smith, editor of PC Gamer magazine.
- 2006 June 25, Richard Lacayo, “The Making of America — Theodore Roosevelt”, in Time:
- Roosevelt not only remade America, but he also charmed the pants off everybody while he did it.
- 2010 March 29, Michael Schuman, “What Japan's Years of Paralysis Teach America”, in Time:
- Those of us old enough will also recall that Japan used to scare the pants off Americans and just about everyone else.