cuss out

cuss out (third-person singular simple present cusses out, present participle cussing out, simple past and past participle cussed out)

1. (chiefly US, informal, transitive) To berate (someone or something) using profane language; to swear at (someone or something), especially at length.
   • 1969 January 3, “Tennis: That Special Feeling”, in Time, retrieved 19 April 2014:

     [A]fter winning a berth on the U.S. Davis Cup team, he was dropped from the competition for the ungentlemanly way in which he cussed out a ball boy.

   • 1972, Stuart Hunter Palmer, The Violent Society, →ISBN, page 46:

     "[H]e was cussing me out just like he had before. Calling me every filthy name in the book."

   • 2014 April 16, Diane E Coston, “MDOT Addressing Pot Hole Myth with RealityCheck”, in WHTC.com, retrieved 19 April 2014:

     When you're traveling Michigan roads and cussing out the potholes, MDOT wants you to know that THEY know that pothole patches don't last.

   • 2021 August 16, “Exploring the SCP Foundation: SCP-6002 - All Creatures Great and Small” (19:06 from the start), in The Exploring Series‎, archived from the original on 10 January 2023:

     In April of 2009, however, the disease was found to suddenly no longer be appearing in newly-hatched chickens, and, upon review, it was discovered that Dr. Wildcat had modified 6002 without authorization, removing the disease from the genome. She's detained and questioned by Muller, and, even though she tries to lie that she didn't do anything, they have footage of her ascending the tree on her own. Muller tells her that she can't just take it upon herself to decide what's best, as who knows what would've happened if she had made a mistake. She proceeds to cuss him out, and he gives her a choice, telling her that if she apologizes now, he'll put in a good word for her with the O5 Council, which might spare her. She's silent for a moment, but does end up apologizing.

• Sometimes out is placed before the object of this verb and sometimes it is placed after the object.

• curse out

• “cuss out”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.