catch hell

To be severely reprimanded, punished, or beaten.

Verb

  1. To be severely reprimanded, punished, or beaten.
    • It’s not exactly a Pixar-level examination of complicated family dynamics, and the movie still has plenty of knuckled-headed, Sandler-style boys-will-be-dumbasses shtick: Children everywhere will surely thrill to the...

    Synonyms: catch it cop it get it

  2. To experience troubling or difficult times.
    • The family on the other side of town / Would catch hell without a ghetto around / In every city you find the same thing going down / Harlem is the capital of every ghetto town / Help me sing it - 1972, Bobby Womack,...
    • I'm catching hell living here alone / Hmm, I never realized, oh, Lord / That you mean so much to me / I'm catching hell living here alone - 1977, Natalie Cole, “I'm Catching Hell”, in Unpredictable:

Forms

catches hell catching hell caught hell