the pants off someone

the pants off (of)

slang Thoroughly or completely; to a huge or great degree. This young team is beating the pants off the veteran squad.
See also: off, pant
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

the pants off someone

INFORMAL
People use the pants off after a verb such as scare, bore, or charm and before a word for a person to show that something is done to a great degree. When I was a kid, circuses bored the pants off me. Stephen Daldry is the sort of person who loves rushing around, charming the pants off everyone he meets.
See also: off, pant, someone
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
See also:
  • beat (one's) pants off
  • be off for (something)
  • be off for sth
  • (I've) got to take off
  • browned off
  • breeze off
  • auction off
  • blast off for (somewhere)
  • blast off for somewhere
  • (Now) where was I?
References in periodicals archive
The fear of death can be too great to bear, The prospect of finding yourself some place That you do not know, neither here nor there, Lost somewhere on the other side of space, Nothing you recognise, no friendly face, Would scare the pants off someone made from stone, All other pains boil down to this dismay.
Turn in Maria - or give her lessons in how to really scare the pants off someone?
Turn in - or give her lessons in how to really scare the pants off someone? Most weddings are followed by a honeymoon, but if Charity has her way after a secret visit to an abortion clinic, she'll be having a termination before the confetti has settled on the ground.
If, however, you fancy the pants off someone and they make you laugh, then you should almost certainly marry them.
I really miss fancying the pants off someone. I wish there was someone I was totally smitten with.
READERS' POEMS LET IT HAPPEN WHENEVER you must face the magistrate, Or maybe even the electric chair, It may well sound easy for me to state, But what I want to say is: "Don't despair." The fear of death can be too great to bear, The prospect of finding yourself some place That you do not know, neither here nor there, Lost somewhere on the other side of space, Nothing you recognise, no friendly face, Would scare the pants off someone made from stone.