thrash
v.— «British soldiers were ordered by their commanding officer to “thrash” Iraqi civilians rounded up in an anti-looting operation, a court martial in Germany was told yesterday. In military slang, thrash means strenuous physical exercise or putting someone through their paces.» —“Soldiers had order to ‘thrash,’ trial told” by Audrey Gillan in Osnabruck, Germany Guardian (U.K.) Jan. 26, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Barbara Kingsolver’s book Demon Copperhead is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield set in today’s Appalachia. Martha shares memories of a long-ago visit to Kingsolver’s family farm in Virginia, where they...
When Marilyn from Boston, Massachusetts, used the expression Them’s the berries! with neighbors in her hometown of nearby Arlington, Massachusetts, she was surprised they were unfamiliar with it. The phrase means something like “That’s...