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Glite Dictionary
👊 To beat up 🔍 To review carefully
to work over

to work over

8 8.4
To physically attack and beat someone to punish or threaten them
  • phrasal verb
  • /wɜrk ˈoʊvər/
  • Offensive
translation icon : dar una paliza a
  • Oscar here was saying you worked him over pretty good.
  • worked him over pretty
  • worked him over pretty good
  • get worked over

Examples

  • His head was bandaged like somebody'd worked him over.

    Dragnet (1954)

  • The police have worked him over.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Not yet, but he will when our men get through working him over.

    Bananas (1971)

  • They'd worked her over for a few hours and sent her home.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • She worked me over pretty good in that interrogation room.

    Central Intelligence (2016)

  • Somebody worked her over.

    L.A. Confidential (1997)

  • Like that, he punched her hard on the shoulders several times—whop, whop, whop—then hit her on top of the head and generally worked her over.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • In Griffith Park last night, two dudes pulled in, one of them's wearing one of those pimp hats, they pop the trunk, toss out a body that's been worked over by a bat.

    Be Cool (2005)

  • If he insults me again, I will definitely work him over to teach him a lesson.

  • The gang was known for their brutal reputation; they often worked over anyone who crossed them.

Synonyms

to beat
vsto work over
  • NSFW
∞ 1.2

To hit something or someone again and again, making a rhythm

is specifically about attacking someone physically as punishment or aggression
to beat up
vsto work over
  • Offensive
271 4.1

To attack someone by hitting them again and again to hurt them

is used for attacking someone as punishment or aggression
to beat the shit out of
vsto work over
  • Offensive
53 9.9

To hurt or defeat someone very badly, often by hitting them

is the neutral term for attacking someone violently rather than vulgar speech
to beat to a pulp
vsto work over
  • Offensive
15 7.6

Hit someone many times until they are badly hurt or win against them very clearly

means attacking someone physically, usually as punishment or aggression
to thrash
vsto work over
  • NSFW
7 6.5

Hit someone hard, often as punishment or in a fight

is about attacking someone often with repeated hits as aggression

Antonyms

help
∞ 1.0

An act that makes something easier for someone

to protect
∞ 1.0

To keep someone or something safe from harm

How Violent

to maul
  • NSFW
29 7.2
to work over
  • Offensive
8 8.4
to beat
  • NSFW
∞ 1.2
to punch
455 1.4
to hit
∞ 1.0
shove
31 2.7

Surface Forms

work over infinitive
worked over past
worked over past participle
working over present participle
works over third person singular

Morphology

work + over

The sense 'revise or examine thoroughly' is related to combining 'work' (to do effort on something) with the particle 'over', which commonly conveys repetition or thoroughness, so a learner who knows the constituents could partly infer this meaning. However, particle-verb semantics are variable and potentially ambiguous (e.g., 'work someone over' = beat someone), so the precise revision/review sense is not fully predictable to a B1 learner without exposure.

Etymology

The verb work over may come from the image of someone doing hard work over another person's body, hitting them again and again. That's why it means 'to attack or beat someone'.