1
general::
Criticize severely, punish, as in The traditionalists often want to tar and feather those who don't conform. This expression alludes to a former brutal punishment in which a person was smeared with tar and covered with feathers, which then stuck. It was first used as a punishment for theft in the English navy, recorded in the Ordinance of Richard I in 1189, and by the mid-1700s had become mob practice. The figurative usage dates from the mid-1800s.
American Heritage Idioms
2
general::
Phrase(s): tar and feather someone
to punish or humiliate someone by coating them with tar and feathers. • The people of the village tarred and feathered the bank robber and chased him out of town. • They threatened to tar and feather me if I ever came back into their town.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs