whale on sb/sth

/wˈeɪl ˌɒn ˌɛsbˈiː slˈaʃ ˌɛstˌiːˈeɪtʃ/

/wˈeɪl ˌɑːn ˌɛsbˈiː slˈæʃ ˌɛstˌiːˈeɪtʃ/

to whale on sb/sth

to violently or forcefully hit a person or thing many times

to strongly criticize someone or something for something bad that has happened

Examples

1. She began whaling on the poor child until a police officer finally intervened.

2. He stood there whaling on the wall with a sledgehammer, but he barely seemed to be making a dent in it.

3. The boss whaled on us for the entirety of the meeting because of our failure to meet our sales quota.

4. The interviewer suddenly began whaling on the politician over his alleged ties to the pharmaceutical industry.