From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Trounce \Trounce\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Trounced; p. pr. & vb.
n. Trouncing.] [F. tronce, tronche, a stump, piece of wood.
See Truncheon.]
To punish or beat severely; to whip smartly; to flog; to
castigate. [Colloq.]
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
trounce
v 1: beat severely with a whip or rod; "The teacher often
flogged the students"; "The children were severely
trounced" [syn: flog, welt, whip, lather, lash,
slash, strap, trounce]
2: come out better in a competition, race, or conflict; "Agassi
beat Becker in the tennis championship"; "We beat the
competition"; "Harvard defeated Yale in the last football
game" [syn: beat, beat out, crush, shell, trounce,
vanquish]
3: censure severely or angrily; "The mother scolded the child
for entering a stranger's car"; "The deputy ragged the Prime
Minister"; "The customer dressed down the waiter for bringing
cold soup" [syn: call on the carpet, take to task,
rebuke, rag, trounce, reproof, lecture,
reprimand, jaw, dress down, call down, scold,
chide, berate, bawl out, remonstrate, chew out,
chew up, have words, lambaste, lambast]