Definition

1. Verb (transitive):
   • To physically assault or beat someone severely, typically as an act of aggression, intimidation, or punishment.
   • To subject someone to a thorough and often violent beating.

Usage

• The verb "work over" is used to describe a deliberate, aggressive physical attack on a person. It implies a sustained and systematic beating.
• It is often used in informal contexts, particularly those involving crime, violence, or threats.
• The object of the verb is the person who is being beaten.

Examples

• Verb:
  • The gang threatened to work him over if he didn't pay the protection money.
  • After the argument, he was worked over by three men in the alley.
  • The mob boss ordered his enforcers to work over the informant.

Advanced Usage

• "to give someone a (good/proper) working over": This is a common noun phrase derived from the verb, emphasizing the thoroughness of the beating.
  • The rival gang gave him a proper working over; he was in the hospital for a week.

Variants and Related Words

• Working-over (noun): The act or instance of beating someone severely.
  • He was hospitalized after the brutal working-over.

Synonyms

• Beat up: To strike repeatedly so as to inflict serious injury.
• Assault: To make a physical attack on.
• Thrash: To beat soundly in punishment.
• Rough up: To treat violently; to beat or manhandle.

Related Phrasal Verbs

(Note: "Work over" itself is a phrasal verb. Other phrasal verbs with "work" have different meanings and are not synonyms for violent assault.)

Related Idioms

• "To beat to a pulp": To beat someone so severely they are badly bruised and injured. This is a close synonym in meaning and intensity to "work over."
  • The boxer beat his opponent to a pulp.

Verb

1. give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression
   • Thugs beat him up when he walked down the street late at night
   • The teacher used to beat the students