tear a strip off someone

English

Alternative forms

tear someone off a strip, tear strips off someone

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Verb

tear a strip off someone (third-person singular simple present tears a strip off someone, present participle tearing a strip off someone, simple past tore a strip off someone, past participle torn a strip off someone)

(slang) To scold vigorously.
- 1952, New Zealand Parliament, Parliamentary Debates‎, volume 295, page 116:
  Last night the honourable member for Miramar was going to tear a strip off the Minister of Works; […] .
- 2012, Kimberley Rose Dawson, Carousel: The Relapse: Spinning Out of Control‎, page 260:
  But before Debra went out the door behind her she proceeded to tear a strip off both Miguel and Anna Maria.
  Miguel ended up phoning Liz at home and tearing a strip off her for telling Debra to tell him off.
- 2013, Lorraine Bateman, Paul Cole, Blue Days and Fair, page 211:
  No doubt Mother tore a strip off him last night. She will never forgive him for turning away a suitor.

Synonyms

(scold vigorously): excoriate, give someone a dressing-down, haul someone over the coals, rake someone over the coals, read someone the riot act, tell someone off

Translations

scold vigorously

French: engueuler (fr), engueuler comme du poisson pourri (fr)
German: heftig beschimpfen, ordentlich die Meinung sagen, eine Standpauke halten (de), herunterputzen
Icelandic: úthúða

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.