To thrash soundly.

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1856.  [He] ‘rolls over’ by giving his opponent ‘gowdy.’—B. H. Hall, ‘College Words,’ p. 204.

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1865.  

        Do you feel now and then the least bit
Of an incipient earthquake fit,
Accompanied with awful raps?
But give ’em gowdy, give ’em gowdy,
And it ’ll soon clear away!
‘The Rhyme of the Master’s Mate,’ Atlantic Monthly, xvi. 521 (Nov.).    

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