APAD: a good hiding

Meaning:

   A good hiding is a severe thrashing.

 

Background:

 

   A good hiding is one of the phrases that we infer the meaning of without

   really understanding. One can remember at school being threatened with a good

   hiding by the teachers and working out pretty quickly from the context what

   was being said. It never occurred to me to wonder why hiding, which everyone

   knew meant `concealing oneself from view', should be used in a phrase meaning

   a severe thrashing.

 

   We rarely have use for it now but the verb hiding was used in the 18th

   century to mean `flay - remove the hide from'. This wasn't in the sense of

   beating but of removing a hide of an animal during slaughter.

 

   From the early 19th century hiding began to be used to mean thrashing,

   especially thrashing severe enough to remove the victim's skin. It was that

   meaning that Basil Fawlty had in mind when he threatened and later thrashed

   his ailing car.

 

   An early example of the use of hiding to mean thrashing is found in The

   [London] Times, October 1803:

 

     At the bar of the Plough alehouse, when the deceased had challenged the

     prisoner, and threatened to give him a good hiding.

 

   That's the earliest example of `a good hiding' in print that I have found.

 

   In the sporting world, when a contestant is facing a beating with nothing to

   show for it, they are said to be on a hiding to nothing.

 

- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]

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My first good hiding was for stealing from the family cache and then losing 10

RMB, a sizeable sum in the 70s, in the dog days of the summer when I turned

five. The Dickensian drama has long become a treasured memory. Aunt and I still

laugh about it today.

another doube meaning word ;-) well written 7G, thx4Sharing

Thanks.Yes. It's a good thing and has to be earned. If you

haven't, don't wait till too late :-)))

a good hiding? thx but no thx ;-))

@5! this kid is a genius, I guess stealing is from nature

other than from nurture

It ain't bad. Some "get their butt kicked" which is close:-)

and his heart was already sparking for freedom :-))

maybe "kick the bucket" is even better? ;-)))

No time 4 the bucket. I'll ride till the wheels fall off:-))

hahaha, U r so funny! & thx 4 cheering me up ;-)))

中文里也有类似的威胁：” 剥你的皮，抽你的筋“。

I know what you mean by"10 RMB, a sizeable sum in the 70s".

Yes. The Chinese are much more scary:-))

And the hiding was dealt in proportion :-)))

哈哈，父母教子会有那么狠吗？；）最多是“皮开肉绽”，而且都是打在肉多不显眼的地方吧？；））

被狠狠揍了一顿：） hiding is new to me in this context. Tks!