strike someone when they are down

strike someone when they are down (third-person singular simple present strikes someone when they are down, present participle striking someone when they are down, simple past and past participle struck someone when they were down)

1. (idiomatic) Synonym of kick someone when they are down (“make things worse for someone in a difficult position”) [from 17th c.]
   • 1665, John Sergeant, Sure Footing in Christianity, or rational discourses on the rule of faith‎:

     but he was already so doubly overthrown by two Learned Opposers, that it seem'd unhandsome and ignoble to strike a man when he was down; his Circumstances making him rather an Object of Pity than Victory.

• kick someone when they are down, hit someone when they are down
  • See also Thesaurus:make matters worse