On occasion, when the tale of provocation reached its limit, his father thrashed him, until there came a day when Tom upset the usual course of proceedings by snatching the stick out of his father's hands, and would have belaboured him in turn if he had not been promptly knocked down.
"A Maid of the Silver Sea"
John Oxenham
He therefore belaboured him till his sullen obstinacy gave way to a roar for mercy, and promises never so to offend again.
"Eric, or Little by Little"
Frederic W. Farrar
I'll teach him, growled Pietrie, and jumping up, he belaboured Wright's head with the Latin Grammar out of which he had just been cribbing.
"Eric, or Little by Little"
Frederic W. Farrar