Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to beat severely.

1926		in V. Randolph Pissing in the Snow (1988) 145: The porters beat the living shit out of him.
1945		in T. Shibutani Derelicts of Company K (1978) 231: ‘Boy, they were really after him and started pounding the shit out of him.’ [Ibid.] 234: ‘We got enough guys to beat the shit out of all of ’em.’.
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 52: They’ll beat the shit out of us. You have to expect that.
1958		C. Lee diary 6 Nov. in Eight Bells & Top Masts (2001) 174: If a word of this gets out he’ll beat the shit out of me.
1963		H.S. Thompson letter 19 Nov. in Proud Highway (1997) 415: I have every intention of stomping the shit out of you.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 119: The fight he saw on TV last Friday where Pete Laughlin beat the shit out of some fuckin nigga.
1967		L. Bruce Essential Lenny Bruce 40: Two thousand years of Polack kids whacking the shit out of us.
1968		G. Cuomo Among Thieves 289: He never in his life set out to hurt anyone like that, ganging up on some guy and pounding the shit out of him.
1970		A. Young Snakes (1971) 21: Nigger, I’ll whip the dudu outta you!
1973		B.S. Johnson All Bull 23: Other times he wandered into the guard room late at night and beat shit out of the prisoners.
1974		(con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 13: He was naked, getting the shit pounded out of him by gigantic muscular blacks.
1974		V.E. Smith Jones Men 58: Goddam Rollers’d come along and [...] beat the shit out of you.
1974		G. Radano Stories Cops Only Tell Each Other 84: Well, the big strangers approach their objective from different directions and they go to work. Bing, bang, pow! They beat the cruller off everyone on that corner.
1975		J. Carr Bad (1995) 123: The next day Sheik paid me and beat dogshit out of Mule.
1976		M. Braly False Starts 186: Those [...] who had jumped and been caught were getting the shit stomped out of them.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 48: If a stranger had done the same thing [...] they’d have joyfully thumped the shit out of him.
1981		(con. c.1918) P. Crosbie Your Dinner’s Poured Out! 32: Come on now, yeh hoor’s get! Come on now and I’ll bate the shite outa yeh.
1983		S. King Christine 88: Gilman just beat the living shit out of Arnie.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 14: They could have dragged him into the lift and beat the shit out of him.
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 106: Jimmy had to beat the shit out of him almost every night.
1986		R.G. Barrett Real Thing 113: I held you up for an hour, belted the shit out of you and drank all your piss.
1988		R. Doyle Commitments 89: He beat the shi’e ou’ o’ the Dean o’ Girls.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 37: Naturally the crooks would recognise him, and instantly bash the living shit out of him.
1991		R. Doyle Van (1998) 375: He wanted to go after him and thump the living shite out of him and throw the poxy fiver back in his face.
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 157: I finally got fed up with taking a shit-kicking every time I spoke up for myself [...] So two years ago I got this knife and worked on it. Nobody’s beat the shit out of me since.
1996		P. Howard The Joy (2015) [ebook] I hear whimpering coming out of Bucko’s cell. The lads must be beating the shite out of him.
1998		L. Stringer Grand Central Winter (1999) 8: Panic that at any second someone or something is going to jump out of the darkness [...] and stomp the living shit out of me.
2004		C. Hiaasen Skinny Dip 231: His urge to beat the everlasting shit [...] out of Dr. Charles Perrone.
2010		K. Richards Life 50: We beat the shit out of them.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] ‘Did he ever try it on with you? Or with Allen?’ [...] ‘We’d have sorted him out [...] beaten the shit out of him’.
2019		N. Walker Cherry 41: We used to beat the shit out of each other to prove how tough we were.
2020		D. Winslow ‘The San Diego Zoo’ in Broken 133: [A] drunk middle-aged husband was beating the shit out of his drunk middle-aged wife.
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 266: ‘I beat the shit out of him’.

2. to improve upon, to be superior to, to surpass.

1933		E. Hemingway letter 13 June in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 395: I can beat the shit out of any of them.
1969		Kerouac letter 28 Feb. in Charters II (1999) 468: Suddenly a crazy Polock gyrene came in and beat the shit out of all of us.
1972		D. Jenkins Semi-Tough 288: Winnin’ ain’t the only thing in life but it beats the dog shit out of whatever’s next.
1978		A. Maupin Tales of the City (1984) 26: Garbage [...] is very revealing. It beats the shit out of tarot cards.
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 161: And for Christ’s sake, be grateful — it sure beats the shit out of walking.

3. to confuse completely; to be ignorant.

1960		(con. WWII) G. Sire Deathmakers 126: ‘Where’s your assistant driver?’ [...] Ibretta looked over at the empty, open hatch. ‘Beats the shit out of me,’ he said.
1974		D. Goines Swamp Man 145: How the hell you figure that beats the shit out of me.
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 95: Beats the shit out of me how two guys like that came to own a place with a name like Texas Lunch.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 10: Beats the shit out of me.
2001		N. Green Shooting Dr. Jack (2002) 125: ‘What’s the point, stopping now?’ ‘Beats the shit outta me.’.

4. in fig. use, e.g., to drink heavily.

1974

G.V. Higgins Cogan’s Trade (1975) 136: She’ll start beating shit out of the sauce and everything.