Entry in progress—B.P.
(Oxford English Dictionary)
to beat (also bore, scare, etc.) the pants off (a person): to beat (bore, scare, etc.) completely, utterly, or beyond the point of endurance.
1925 J. Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer ii. v. 232 Maybe when the Germans have licked the pants off her England’ll give Ireland her freedom.
1934 E. Waugh Handful of Dust iii. 133 She bores my pants off, but she’s a good trier.
1934 G. S. Kaufman & M. Hart Merrily we roll Along ii. i. 102 I’m coming down there some day and beat the pants off you boys at chess.
OCLC WorldCat record
Shoot the pants off the Japs.
Publisher: [USA?] : [publisher not identified], [approximately 1940]
Edition/Format: Print book : English
OCLC WorldCat record
Homecoming Display, 1954 “Beat the Pants Off Penn”
Publisher: Bentley Image Bank, Bentley Historical Library 1954
Edition/Format: Downloadable archival material
Summary:
University of Michigan News and Information Services Photographs; University of Michigan. News and Information Services. Photographs.
OCLC WorldCat record
Step right up! ... Jon gonna scare the pants off America
Author: William Castle
Publisher: New York : G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1976.
Edition/Format: Print book : English
OCLC WorldCat record
Willie Weirdie scares the pants off Al Jaffee
Author: Al Jaffee
Publisher: New York : New American Library, ©1982.
Edition/Format: Print book : Fiction : English
Urban Dictionary
beat the pants off
To completely “own”; to scare the crap out of someone; to beat someone at something
“I just beat the pants off you at Halo 3!”
#beat#pants#off#the#someone
by Cory N. January 02, 2008
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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•Entry in progress—BP27 (5/3)
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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