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tar
be tarred and feathered
1. Literally, to be coated with tar and bird feathers as a form of public punishment and shaming (one that is no longer carried out). The thief was tarred and feathered in the public square before being paraded through the town strapped to a wooden cart.
2. By extension, to be severely criticized, reprimanded, or excoriated, especially in a public and humiliating manner. After this economic collapse, everyone is demanding that the heads of the bank be tarred and feathered, but I'd be willing to bet that they'll just get a slap on the wrist.
have a lick of the tar brush
dated ethnic slur To be of mixed race, such that one's skin is darker than that of a person with only white ancestry. My racist aunt refuses to vote for someone who has a lick of the tar brush.
have a touch of the tar brush
dated ethnic slur To be of mixed race, such that one's skin is darker than that of a person with only white ancestry. My racist aunt refuses to vote for someone who has a touch of the tar brush.
knock the tar out of (someone)
1. To strike continuously and violently. Aw man, when my dad finds out that I broke the window, he's going to knock the tar out of me!
2. To defeat soundly. A: "Did you guys win today?" B: "We sure did! We knocked the tar out of them: 10-0!"
do not spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar
Do not ruin something for an avoidable reason. "Ship" is thought to be a dialectical pronunciation of "sheep," and a "ha'porth" is a "halfpennyworth." Tar was used to protect sheep skin from flies (and thereby illness and death), so not having enough tar would contribute to the death of the sheep. You know your mom is going to be offended, so please call her before the dinner party—do not spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar.
Jack Tar
A slang term for a sailor. I hardly ever see my brother now that he's a Jack Tar and constantly traveling.
touch of the tar brush
dated ethnic slur Of mixed race, such that one's skin is darker than that of a person with only white ancestry. My racist aunt refuses to vote for someone who has a touch of the tar brush.
beat the hell out of someone
and beat the living daylights out of someone ; beat the pants off (of) someone; beat the shit out of someone; beat the socks off (of) someone; beat the stuffing out of someone; beat the tar out of someone 1. Fig. to defeat someone very badly. (Caution: the use of the word shit is considered vulgar and is offensive to many people. Of is usually retained before pronouns.) Our team beat the hell out of the other side. We beat the stuffing out of the other side.
2. Fig. Inf. to batter someone severely. (Alludes to physical violence, not the removal of someone's pants. Of is usually retained before pronouns.) The thugs beat the living daylights out of their victim. If you do that again, I'll beat the pants off of you. Before the boxing match Max said he would beat the socks off Lefty.
tar and feather someone
to punish or humiliate someone by coating them with tar and feathers. The people of the village tarred and feathered the bank robber and chased him out of town. They threatened to tar and feather me if I ever came back into their town.
tarred with the same brush
Fig. sharing the same characteristic(s); having the same good or bad points as someone else. Jack and his brother are tarred with the same brush. They're both crooks. The Smith children are tarred with the same brush. They're all lazy.
whale the tar out of someone
Inf. to spank or beat someone. (See also beat the living daylights out of someone.) My father threatened to whale the tar out of me. I'll whale the tar out of you when we get home if you don't settle down.
beat the hell out of somebody
1. to hit someone hard and repeatedly Bill beat the hell out of me after we started arguing over a girl.
2. to completely defeat someone It's a thrill to beat the hell out of another team in front of 20,000 screaming fans.
Related vocabulary: (it) beats mebeat the hell out of something
to be much better than something It wasn't much of a plan, but it beat the hell out of sitting around the office waiting for something to happen.
spoil the ship for a hap'orth of tar
to spoil something big or important by refusing to spend a small amount of money or make a small amount of effort They spent millions on a wonderful architect-designed building, but they've bought really cheap furniture. It's just spoiling the ship for a hap'orth of tar.
beat/knock the tar out of somebody
(American informal) to keep hitting someone hard, or to completely defeat someone We used to fight a lot as kids and he always beat the tar out of me. He was tired of her knocking the tar out of him when they played checkers.
tar somebody with the same brush
to believe wrongly that someone or something has the same bad qualities as someone or something that is similar (usually passive) I admit that some football supporters do cause trouble but it's not fair that we're all being tarred with the same brush.
beat the living daylights out of
Also, knock or lick the hell or living daylights or shit or stuffing or tar out of . Administer a merciless beating to; also, defeat soundly. For example, The coach said he'd like to beat the living daylights out of the vandals who damaged the gym floor , or Bob knocked the stuffing out of that bully, or He swore he'd beat the tar out of anyone who tried to stop him. These colloquial phrases nearly always denote a physical attack. In the first, daylights originally (1700) meant "the eyes" and later was extended to any vital ( living) body organ. Thus Henry Fielding wrote, in Amelia (1752): "If the lady says another such words to me ... I will darken her daylights" (that is, put out her eyes). Hell here is simply a swear word used for emphasis. The more vulgar shit and the politer stuffing allude simply to knocking out someone's insides. Tar is more puzzling but has been so used since the late 1800s.
knock the living daylights out of
lick the stuffing out of
tar and feather
Criticize severely, punish, as in The traditionalists often want to tar and feather those who don't conform. This expression alludes to a former brutal punishment in which a person was smeared with tar and covered with feathers, which then stuck. It was first used as a punishment for theft in the English navy, recorded in the Ordinance of Richard I in 1189, and by the mid-1700s had become mob practice. The figurative usage dates from the mid-1800s.
tarred with the same brush
Having the same faults or bad qualities, as in He may be lazy, but if you ask me his friends are all tarred with the same brush. This term is thought to come from sheep farming, where the animals' sores were treated by brushing tar over them, and all the sheep in a flock were treated in the same way. The term was transferred to likeness in human beings in the early 1800s.
whale the tar out of someone
tv. to spank or beat someone. (Sometimes said to a child.) My father threatened to whale the tar out of me.
tar and feather
1. To punish (a person) by covering with tar and feathers.
2. To criticize severely and devastatingly; excoriate.
tarred with the same brush
Considered or described as having the same faults or bad qualities.