lay into

Definitions

1. 1

   To beat up or launch an attack against

   To beat up or launch an attack against; to strike forcefully.

   • The U.S. ships did the nautical version of someone stuck in a pub when the chairs and glass starts flying, who just looked around, shrugged their shoulders, and immediately lays into the nearest combatant.
2. 2

   To berate

   To berate; to scold.

   • Indeed, after laying into Volodymyr Zelensky, the embattled president of an embattled Ukraine, in the Oval Office last year, Mr. Trump noted with satisfaction that “this is going to be great television.”
3. 3

   To start eating voraciously.

   • I'm gonna lay into that ice cream later tonight.

The neighborhood