Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To give a thrashing to; beat.
  • transitive verb To scold sharply; berate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To beat severely; thrash; in sailors' use, to beat with a rope's end.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb Low, Low, Low To beat severely
  • transitive verb to scold, reprimand, or berate harshly.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To scold, reprimand or criticize harshly.
  • verb dated To give a thrashing to; to beat severely.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb beat with a cane
  • verb censure severely or angrily

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps lam + baste.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

First attested in 1637. Probably lam (“beat”) +‎ baste (“beat”)

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Examples

  • My meeting with Senator Nesmith was accidental, but Scott never forgave me, nor did he in fact neglect any opportunity to "lambaste" me after that time.

    Reminiscences of a Pioneer William Thompson

  • Good article Jeremy but clearly all your proof readers are on holiday: lambast is not spelt "lambaste".

    The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed 2009

  • a fence and, at the last moment, turn the animal's head from it, and then loudly rate and "lambaste" him for refusing!

    The Horsewoman A Practical Guide to Side-Saddle Riding, 2nd. Ed. Alice M. Hayes 1873

  • Hayley Williams as good as her Paramore friends ditch a DayGlo as good as usually get down to a commercial operation of creation a torpedo stone record, as good as Eyes rips along upon hair-trigger guitars, tranquil lambaste as good as Williams 'decidedly torpedo pipes (check songs similar to "Careful" as good as "Ignorance" for proof).

    Archive 2009-12-01 admin 2009

  • They lambaste Obama as socialist slime inadvertently refuting intelligent design.

    John Feffer: Ten Little Republicans John Feffer 2011

  • Well, since this thing (if it makes it the rest of the way through conference and final passage) doesn't kick in until 2014, will she lambaste Reid and Pelosi for being responsible for having those 180,000 people's blood on their hands?

    Obama: Health care vote a victory for American people 2009

  • But Charisse could not so easily lambaste God for taking their little boy.

    Who Said It Would Be Easy Cheryl Faye 2011

  • Hayley Williams as good as her Paramore friends ditch a DayGlo as good as usually get down to a commercial operation of creation a torpedo stone record, as good as Eyes rips along upon hair-trigger guitars, tranquil lambaste as good as Williams 'decidedly torpedo pipes (check songs similar to "Careful" as good as "Ignorance" for proof).

    The Best Albums Of 2009, In Bigger Than The Sound | Industry Fokery admin 2009

  • But Charisse could not so easily lambaste God for taking their little boy.

    Who Said It Would Be Easy Cheryl Faye 2011

  • They lambaste Obama as socialist slime inadvertently refuting intelligent design.

    John Feffer: Ten Little Republicans John Feffer 2011

Comments

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  • Is lambaste or lambast more correct?

    August 16, 2008

  • "Although both spellings are well attested, lambaste is truer to the putative etymology (lam "to beat" + baste "to thrash") and, in any event, vastly predominates." Garner's Modern American Usage, by Bryan A. Garner (2003).

    November 11, 2010