knock the corners off

English

Verb

knock the corners off (third-person singular simple present knocks the corners off, present participle knocking the corners off, simple past and past participle knocked the corners off)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To accustom (a person) to the vicissitudes of life; to cure a person of naïveté, selfishness, etc. by exposure to reality.
   • 2007, Csilla Toldy, Desert Skies, page 133:

     That's the point. He needs a father to knock the corners off him and whip him into shape.'

   • 2013, Daphne Coyne, A Surfeit of Aunts, page 66:

     […] these prefects, about ten of them, indulged any sadistic leanings they had by making our lives as difficult as possible. This was allowed to go unchecked by the staff who probably overlooked it as part of school life designed to knock the corners off.