do a job on

Idioms  

1. Also, do a number on. Damage, harm, as in The cat really did a job on the upholstery, or The teacher did a number on the class with that assignment. This slangy idiom uses job (or number) in the sense of “something negative.”

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Example Sentences

Crystal Palace are so well drilled that, even if they are without injured duo Ismaila Sarr and Adam Wharton, they should still do a job on them.

From BBC • Sep. 18, 2025

“When you do a job on behalf of the government — as an employee or a contractor — there is no license to discriminate or turn people away because they do not meet religious criteria.”

From New York Times • Oct. 5, 2020

If fit peripheral figures such as Fred, Antonio Valencia, Andreas Pereira, Matteo Darmian and Scott McTominay can’t be trusted to do a job on Saturday, then they probably have no future at Manchester United.

From The Guardian • Feb. 7, 2019

In the next issue of Civil War History, historian Albert Castel wrote that “Connelly set out to do a job on Bobby Lee.”

From Washington Post • May 19, 2017

Nancy thought, An angry monkey is like a flying pit bull terrier with five prehensile limbs—these critters can do a job on you.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston