English to Spanish Social Sciences Idioms / Maxims / Sayings

I have decided to compile a somewhat thorough English-Spanish glossary, a long-standing goal I have had for many years but never actually done. In approximately 10% of the cases, I am recurring to you, my colleagues on Proz, to ask you to help me get appropriate translations into Spanish of a number of idioms.

I want to assure everyone that ALL TRANSLATIONS WILL BE SHARED on the open forum we have in Proz. The way I guarantee this is by choosing “one answer” to which I incorporate many of the other answers, and then I click to save the question and answer on the open Proz forum.

Selection criteria: 1) extensive usage throughout the Spanish-speaking world. I am counting on your help, and since usually colleagues simply agree without adding where they know the translated term to be used, I am not able to specify this in the answers. This is not a commercial enterprise, but rather an informal exercise for the benefit of all of us. 2) Many times there are really creative idioms that are used which, although not used necessarily throughout the Spanish-speaking world, would be readily understood by all. I am particularly happy to include these in the open forum so that we can all enjoy them in our use, whether literally, or perhaps with an adaptation to the degree that each translator deems appropriate for that particular target population.
Please, when you agree with an answer, mention the countries in which you know such idiom to be used, if not already mentioned by another colleague. Since this project is so time-consuming and endless, and since, like you, I have such a heavy load of translations and interpreting jobs to do and cannot spend umpteen million hours on it, I must count on your help. And although simply listing countries because another translator says so is in no way scientific, at least it is an interesting start.

Finally, I know context is everything. Quite often I will give the meaning(s) in which I am interested, and I will attempt to include a sample. Some sources, such as the Random House Dictionary, already have an example, so there is no need for me to do this, since time is of essence.

Thank you for your help.

definition pursuant to the Oxford Dictionary of Idioms: "1. give someone a beating. 2. defeat or surpass someone decisively. N. Amer., informal Clock as the slang sense of 'face'."

example:

I have seen my friend and co-worker go through a divorce. He is the supporting spouse in a long term marriage where there are no children. Wife filed for the divorce. The discovery process revealed to him that for the last ten years of the marriage, wife had forged his signature on creidit card applications. Just before filing for divorce, she transferred those debts to their joint credit accounts where he was primanry cardholder, which were awarded to him. He tried to subpoena two other credit accounts where he thinks the same thing happened, and wife's attorney had blocked his access to those accounts with a letter directing the bank not to respond (they are out of state). Wife had also obtained checks made out to him from his credit union savings account, where she was joint owner, and forged his endorsement on the back. She was doing all this without his permission, to wit, his forged signautre.

When he pays the retainer, my friend informs counsel of these activities. He is then billed for many hours spent in routine office activities, memos, letters, telephone calls, inter-office discussions, etc., etc., and then cannot get any attention to these matters of his wife's activites on their funds. He has been through three law firms looking for meaningful representation and this has happened with all three firms. Meanwhile, he continues to pay alimony and she will get half his pension when he retires. He is 62 yrs old. Wife effectively "cleaned his clock", leaving him not only broke, but in heavy debt as well at separation. He would like to recover his share of the community property or his half of the pension, if he could.