Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. the life, the essence, the ‘daylights’; esp. in phr. beat/kick/knock the bejazus out of.

1933		R.E. Galbraith These Our Moderns 114: He gives us nothing to think about [...] but he does thrill the bejeezus out of us.
1934		A. Woollcott While Rome Burns 258: My partner ... will ... beat the be-Jesus out of you.
1941		B. Schulberg What Makes Sammy Run? (1992) 218: He would probably get the bejesus kicked out of him.
1942		H. Miller Roofs of Paris (1983) 236: Before I’ve finished I’ve screwed bloody Jesus out of her.
1942		R.L. Bellem ‘Broken melody’ in Dan Turner – Hollywood Detective Dec. 🌐 Her answering move startled the bejoseph out of me.
1946		R.L. Bellem ‘Homicide Surprise’ in Speed Detective Feb. 🌐 [I] dished him the spanking of his life; whaled the everlasting bejunior out of him.
1946		W.L. Gresham Nightmare Alley (1947) 38: I’d beat the be-Jesus out of any snotnose that went monkeying around Molly.
1954		J. Steinbeck Sweet Thursday (1955) 182: Kick the bejeezus out of him.
1955		T. Williams Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Act II: Church! – it bores the Bejesus out of me but I go!
1958		R. Prather Scrambled Yeggs 79: Dragoon had got him to spill by the simple expedient of beating the be-jeezus out of him.
1959		E. De Roo Go, Man, Go! 131: You gonna tell me what the hell’s goin’ on around here or have I got to beat it and the be-jesus out of ya, boy?
1962		(con. 1940s) G. Mandel Wax Boom 251: I’ll kick the Jesus out of this whole platoon!
1965		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Confessions 15: I swear I would have knocked the fighting be-Jesus out of him.
1965		L. Dunne Goodbye to The Hill (1966) 35: They really did beat the bejeysus out of me before they ran off and left me lying in my own blood and vomit.
1975		L. Bangs in Psychotic Reactions (1988) 147: They funkified the sweet bejesus out of that audience.
1978		A. Maupin Tales of the City (1984) 152: The Afro-aphrodisia of the Reverend Willy Sessums, bojangling the bejeezus out of Third World Socialism.
1987		L. Redmond Emerald Square 250: Broken under a sustained reign of terror by the good Brothers, who kept themselves warm on the coldest day, beating the bejesus out of some poor little Liberties boy.
1993		S. King Dolores Claiborne 74: He sure as hell wasn’t gonna tell em his wife’d whopped the bejesus out of him with a creamer.
1998		P. Doyle (con. late 1950s) Amaze Your Friends (2019) 233: ‘Ray Kelly would have [...] flogged the bejesus out of you’.
2000		J. Barbarino GeistMag.com Oct. 🌐 Take the opportunity to jump onto the bar and scream anti-Canadian obscenities. [...] If they still are not convinced that they need to have the Baby Jesus beat out of them, then try shoving one of the lesbian Canadian women over.
2000		Observer Escape 30 Apr. 3: Two of the beasts ripping the bejesus out of a dead wallaby.
2015		P. Beatty Sellout (2016) 285: A large truly funny black person would scare the bejeezus out of America.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 139: [B]efore that they put your ass through the wringer, check the livin bejeezus out yo background.

2. a synon. for hell, the phr.

1943		I. Wolfert Tucker’s People (1944) 308: Let them be bright as bejesus.
1947–53		W. Guthrie Seeds of Man (1995) 218: What’n th’ holy beejesus did ya ever go an’ pull a thaing like that fer?
1955		E. Abbey Brave Cowboy (1958) 139: Who the be-jesus told you that?
1987		(con. 1920s) L. Redmond Emerald Square 22: Once or twice, an angry voice roared at my mother. ‘Get the bejasus out of it ...’.