half-killed

A young orphan boy who lives a sheltered life with his uncle is suddenly thrown into a magical new world where he is the ONLY one who can ultimately defeat the most horrible villain in the land, who was previously half-killed, now has no body, and is trying to regain his power.

Who (or what) is your Entertainer of the Decade? | EW.com 2009

You had them half-killed - 'twasn't your fault they didn't kick the bucket, and you never thought twice about damnation!

THE NUMBERS 2010

Not unlike that gigantic Chinese brigandess who half-killed me on the road to Nanking, but civilised, you understand, and willing to chat afterwards, in a frank, easy way which you'd not have expected from her lofty style and figurehead.

Watershed 2010

Yet she was in good health: a condition of suspense, which would have half-killed a man, had been endured by her without complaint, and even with composure.

A Changed Man 2006

She did not talk at all about her own sufferings at breaking from him, for indeed, this worthy woman, though she was half-killed by the separation from the child, yet thought it was very wicked in her to repine at losing him; but everything concerning him, his virtues, talents, and prospects, she poured out.

Vanity Fair 2006

He sent over preserves and pickles, which latter the young gentleman tried surreptitiously in the sideboard and half-killed himself with eating.

Vanity Fair 2006

Sometimes they conspire to run a man up the huge stair, and bring him, half-killed and fainting, to the top.

Notes of a Journey From Cornhill to Grand Cairo 2004

These cells they stuff full of half-dead spiders and caterpillars, which they seem wonderfully to know how to sting to that degree as to leave them paralysed but alive, until their eggs are hatched; and the larvae feed on the horrid mass of powerless, half-killed victims — a sight which has been described by an enthusiastic naturalist18 as curious and pleasing!

Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle 2003

These cells they stuff full of half-dead spiders and caterpillars, which they seem wonderfully to know how to sting to that degree as to leave them paralysed but alive, until their eggs are hatched; and the larvae feed on the horrid mass of powerless, half-killed victims — a sight which has been described by an enthusiastic naturalist18 as curious and pleasing!

Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle 2003

Not unlike that gigantic Chinese brigandess who half-killed me on the road to Nanking, but civilised, you understand, and willing to chat afterwards, in a frank, easy way which you'd not have expected from her lofty style and figurehead.

Flashman And The Tiger Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1999