leather verb to thrash UK Originally, from early C17, “to beat with a leather strap”; during mid- to late C19 usage became more generalised.
[T]he girl’s boyfriend catches him and leathers him. — Nicholas Blincoe, TheBeautifulBeaten-upIrishBoyoftheArndaleCentre, p. 10, 1998
[I]t would have to wait until he had found and leathered whoever was responsible for the bomb. — Christopher Brookmyre, NottheEndofthe World, p. 205, 1998