Definition of take the starch out of someone in English:

phrase

• Deflate or humiliate someone.

  ‘a blistering body attack took all the starch out of the boxer’

  More example sentences

  • ‘If they can make the Bulls pay for crowding Wade and fronting Shaq, it will take the starch out of Chicago's defense and force it to back off.’
  • ‘It netted 22 yards and seemed to take the starch out of Tennessee's blitzing defense.’
  • ‘I didn't want him to go so fast as to take the starch out of him.’
  • ‘Still, Truman's political troubles did not take the starch out of him, and his correspondence contains many examples of his typically blunt language.’
  • ‘She ran a terrific race until Horse Killer Hill took the starch out of her at 45.’
  • ‘Maybe the Sunday night victory party at the beach-front home of his lawyer Glenn Cohen took the starch out of him.’
  • ‘But they scored six runs against us and took the starch out of us.’
  • ‘The fees and other charges took the starch out of me.’
  • ‘However, the climb out of that amazing canyon really took the starch out of me.’
  • ‘My doctor first tried a beta blocker, but it caused shortness of breath and took the starch out of me.’