Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
beat hollow en · VERB
Meanings
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(transitive) To beat up (a person) severely.
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(figuratively, transitive) To defeat severely.
[…] and every night we had a game of chess, at which he beat me hollow.
1915, John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps, William Blackwood & Sons, page 9:The more civilized so-called Caucasian races have beaten the Turks hollow in the struggle for existence.
1881, Charles Darwin, “letter”, in Darwin Correspondence Database, retrieved 07 Jul 2013:"The Raven" has had a great run ... but I wrote it for the express purpose of running — just as I did "The Gold-Bug" ... the bird beat the bug, though, all hollow.
1845, Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Thomas Ollive Mabbott, Complete Poems, University of Illinois Press, published 2000, page 351:
Forms
Synonyms
beat to a pulp