beat to a pulp

beat to a pulp (third-person singular simple present beats to a pulp, present participle beating to a pulp, simple past beat to a pulp, past participle beaten to a pulp or beat to a pulp)

1. (transitive) To beat up (a person) more than usually severely.
   • 2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 251:

     Neanderthals were extremely tough—this is attested to by the thickness of their bones—and were probably capable of beating modern humans to a pulp.

2. (transitive, colloquial, loosely) To defeat severely in various, even non-contact, competitive sports.

• pulp (verb)