chew out

British  

verb

1. informal (tr, adverb) to reprimand

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chew out Idioms  

1. Scold harshly, as in Dad will chew you out for taking the car without permission. Originating in the military, this slangy term began to be used during World War I and soon spread to civilian life. Several vulgar versions, such as chew someone's ass out, should be avoided in polite speech. Also see eat out, def. 2.

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Example Sentences

He used the session not to chew out the offense for a poor day, but to issue a reminder for the defense: There’s a fine line between celebrating and overdoing it.

From Washington Times • Jul. 28, 2022

This fire will chew out the underbrush and lick the moss off the trees.

From The Guardian • Nov. 21, 2019

That prompted Daniels to chew out his teammates.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 29, 2019

A minute later, Walton used almost all of a timeout to chew out Spooner.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2017

Last week I saw him chew out Mamá’s younger coworker for texting instead of finding something “useful” to do on her break, like tidying up the break room.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall