Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a scolding, a telling-off.

1872		Chicago Trib. 23 Oct. 4/2: The Cincinnati Commercial gives these male Mrs. Grundys a ‘going over’ in an article well worth reading [DA].
1884		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn 29: Well, I got a good going-over in the morning from old Miss Watson on account of my clothes.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 28 Sept. 2/3: [H]e gets a severe going over by the Bench to boot.
1931		D. Runyon ‘The Snatching of Bookie Bob’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 122: I hear Bookie Bob giving her a going-over about something or other.
1940		W.R. Burnett High Sierra in Four Novels (1984) 421: Marie give me a going-over. She’s got a temper, that girl.
1953		S. Bellow Augie March (1996) 115: Probably Kreindl and Einhorn decided that I should get a going-over for it [i.e. thieving].

2. an inspection.

1939		J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath (1951) 14: You give me a goin’-over when I first got in.
1947		‘F. Bonnamy’ Self Portrait of Murder (1951) 58: We could give the barn a going-over ourselves.
1952		W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 152: The coppers turned it back to me — after they give it a going-over for bloodstains.
1970		San Diego Sailor 38: If he minded the going over I was giving his equipment he didnt show it.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 151: [I] gave the kitchen a quick going-over — boxes of canned tuna fish, a refrigerator packed with leftovers, and a dirty sink.
1996		(con. 1948) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 107: The thick-necked bartender came down, gave Florek a good going-over.
2000		R.G. Barrett Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] Sergeant Plackett and his dog gave the house a swift but thorough going-over.
2001		‘Gunga Dick’ ‘Jesse’ 🌐 I even saw one tourist get elbowed by his wife as he gave Jesse a going over.
2023		M. Herron Secret Hours 188: [T]he going-over she’d had from the ladies on the corner [...] had felt more rigorous.

3. treatment, doctoring.

1938		D. Runyon ‘Madame La Gimp’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 246: Miss Missouri Martin gave Madame La Gimp such a going-over that she is by no means the worst looker in the world.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 99: Finally the gummy pill was given another going-over until it was shaped like a cone.
1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 305: They gave him a good going over. He had not up to then believed that anything could hurt a man so much, without actually resorting to physical pain.
1960		H. Pinter Caretaker Act II: How do you think the place is looking? I gave it a good going over.
1998		K. Sampson Awaydays 54: I’ll give them [i.e. teeth] another going over just before we get out of the car.

4. a thrashing, a beating.

1931		D. Runyon ‘Tobias the Terrible’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 112: For two cents I will give all you wrong gees a good going-over.
1940		W.R. Burnett High Sierra in Four Novels (1984) 421: Boy, he [i.e. a dog] really gave that big collie a going over.
1952		(con. 1920s) ‘Harry Grey’ Hoods (1953) 87: It looks like he got some going over.
1965		G. Melly Owning Up (1974) 44: They needed a conventional response in order to give me a going over.
1998		J. O’Connor Salesman 93: We gave him one goin’ over he won’t forget in a hurry.
2009		T. Black Gutted 16: Those little fuckers had been at him with some kind of lash before they got started with the airguns. ‘That’s a proper doing-over you’ve had, pal,’ I whispered.

5. petting, sexual caressing; sexual intercourse.

1940		J.H. O’Hara Pal Joey 42: Female lushes [...] their escorts were giving them a little going over.
1945		C. Himes If He Hollers 143: ‘What she needs is a good going over by someone’.

6. a police interrogation, also other interrogation.

1941		Time 7 Apr. 22/3: Some 20 Manhattan reporters gave the Ambassador a going-over for 50 minutes [...] He did not let it appear that he knew he was being needled.
1949		W.R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 219: The Happiness Boys, aided by a Headquarters dick, were giving Gus a going over.