Knock The Living Daylights Out Of Meaning

(figuratively) To greatly excel against (someone or something).

Example: 1939, Ruth McKenney, Industrial Valley, ISBN 0875461832, page 255:
  Boy, the fellows said he just knocked the living daylights out of him, bounced him six feet across the ground.
1954, Denzil Batchelor, Big Fight: The Story of World Championship Boxing, OCLC 7388776, page 65:
  He won the English championship from the six-foot-three-inch, seventeen-stone Sam Hurst, the Staleybridge Infant, knocking the living daylights out of this champion
1963, “10 second summary”, Business Management, volume 25, page 38:
  ...where new and better depreciation regulations and a 7% business investment credit knocked the living daylights out of normal and historical accounting procedures...