смертным боем

• СМЕРТНЫМ БОЕМ бить кого coll

[NPinstrum; Invar; adv (intensif); used with impfv verbs; fixed WO]

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⇒ (to beat s.o.) unmercifully:

- beat the (living) daylights <the stuffing, the tar> out of s.o.;

- beat s.o. to a pulp;

- beat s.o. black-and-blue;

- [in refer, to a one-time beating] give s.o. the hiding of his life.

     ♦ ...Никого из своих сыновей дедушка так не бил, как Иосифа. Бил смертным боем (Рыбаков 1). ...Grandfather never beat his other sons as much as he did Yosif. He used to beat the living daylights out of him... (1a).

     ♦ В этот момент Петро не помнил, что собирался бить жену смертным боем... (Шолохов 3). At that moment Petro completely forgot that he had intended to give his wife the hiding of her life (3a).