to whip into shape
10
5.1
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
poner en forma
- My partner here will have them whipped into shape just like that.
- get whipped into shape
- workouts whip students into shape
- trainer whips them into shape
Examples
-
The venerable Pop Dolan has really whipped these ladies into shape.
-
Very hard, but it will whip you into shape.
Blog text (9) -
We have one week to whip them into shape.
-
I can whip her into shape.
-
So there was still plenty of time to whip the hotel into shape.
Fiction book (2001) -
They whip you into shape; make you a better person.
Fiction book (2002) -
We got 24 hours to whip you into shape for El Primero.
-
If Harv didn't get his employees whipped into shape, he'd start losing accounts.
Fiction book (2001) -
Jonathan Wilkins has been running himself ragged getting that place whipped into shape, and his hard work is paying off the dividends of deliciousness.
Blog text (25) -
We need a coach who can whip into shape the team before the big game.
Synonyms
5
6.8
To use firm authority to make people work harder and follow rules
1
7.1
Make something better by working on it until it is ready
Antonyms
How Improved
523
3.4
- Informal
10
5.1
167
3.4
- Informal
32
1.5
28
3.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components convey relevant cues: 'whip' suggests forceful or rapid action, 'into' signals change of state, and 'shape' denotes condition or fitness, so a learner can partly infer the sense of forcibly improving something. However, the expression relies on a metaphorical extension of 'whip' and a conventionalized collocation ('whip into shape') that may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
Whip into shape comes from the image of a trainer using a whip to make animals move into the right shape or position quickly. So today it means 'to quickly improve someone or something by taking firm action'.