to beat all hollow

Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.

To surpass or overcome completely; thus, "Eclipse beat Sir Henry all hollow." Also, to take wholly by surprise.


The number of ships in New York beat me all hollow, and looked for all the world like a big clearing in the West, with the dead trees all standing.--Crockett, Tour down East, p. 27.

This phrase seems to be common in England. There, however, they do not use the word all, which invariably forms a part of it here.

The author of "The Diary of a Physician" beats Walter Scott hollow, in the attempt which he describes his martyr-philosopher as making to correct La Place.--London Athenæum, Dec. 6, 1845.

A late English traveller under the assumed name of Rubio, says:

I used to think the English might defy all creation for bad coffee; but the Americans beat us hollow.--Travels in the United States.

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