Why do we "beat seven bells out of" someone?

Question

To thrash someone within an inch of his life is sometimes referred to has beating seven bells out of him. But why should seven be the number chosen? This source here acknowledges the phrase exists but is silent as to the etymology, and here the phrase appears as kick seven bells... and alternatively ten bells, which I have never come across.

I've heard it suggested that the term derives from seven bells, the nautical expression for half-an-hour before the end of the watch (so one would beat someone within a small space of the end of his life). But how do we reconcile that with the alternative beat seven shades (of shit) out of?

Hugo · Accepted Answer

It was answered on Ask.Metafilter:

Like danb indicates, it's nautical
  slang. A four hour watch consists of
  eight half hour bells - seven bells is
  almost all the way.
  
  The OED: "In Naut. slang phrs. to
  knock seven bells out of (someone): to
  beat (someone) severely; similarly, to
  scare seven bells out of: to terrify."

Edit: the earliest reference I found is Na motu: or, Reef-rovings in the South seas by Edward T. Perkins in 1854:

"I suppose there were a hundred look-outs
  between the night-heads, does that
  give you any right to disobey orders?
  My orders are, that no man shall sleep
  on watch. I'da mind, when I first
  began, to make an example of you ; but
  bear it in mind, that if I ever catch
  you at it again, I'll knock seven
  bells out of you ! Go ' long ; I've
  done with you."

There are a lot nautical references from the 19th century. Wikipedia has a good article on the eight ship's bells.

Edit 2: The Royal Navy's guide to Navy slang says:

To Knock Seven Bells out of a Man 
  
  An old naval expression for the giving
  of a sound thrashing (the nautical
  equivalent of "Knocking a man for six"
  [a cricketing term]); presumably to
  knock all eight bells out of a man
  would be to kill him!

Edit 3: "seven shades of" is much more recent. Here are some of the earliest references I found:

W. T. Tyler's 1982 Rogue's March: "kick seven shades of shit"
W. L. Ed Webb's 1985 The Bedside Guardian 34: "Does thou want seven shades of shit kicked out of thee?"
June 1989 SPIN magazine: "kicked up seven shades of hell"
1994 British journal of photography: Volume 141: "beat seven shades [of hell]"
Robin Jarvis's 2010 Dancing Jax: "He'd best hope the police find him before I do because I will personally kick seven shades out of him."

Thursagen · Answer

This saying was, as noted, Nautical slang, and would be quite archaic. In times past, seven was viewed as a lucky number, and everything was given seven(nearly) We had seven colours in the rainbow last time, forgive someone seventy times seven, seven deadly sins, ,etc.

We probably all know:

Seven wonders of the Ancient World

It was actually a religious number, and as people were religious last time, they just used seven frequently.

In fact, we see the popularity of seven in other religions, i.e. Islam, which teaches seven heavens and seven articles of faith, Hinduism, with the seven chakras, in Japan even, there are seven gods, seven bushidos, 777 in toilets!!.

Seven appears everywhere: Seven Hills of Rome, Seven Liberal Arts, Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove(China), etc.

Robusto · Answer

Seven is just a magical number, and so has been used for many things since antiquity. We have seven days in a week, seven is the number of the sum of any two opposite sides of a die, there are seven deadly sins, etc.

The number seven is well-exercised in Christianity:

The Seven Corporal Acts of Mercy and Seven Spiritual Acts of Mercy of Roman Catholic, Anglican, and other traditions
The Seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride
Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit
The Seven Joys of the Virgin Mary, of Roman Catholic, Anglican, and other traditions
The Seven Sacraments in the Catholic faith (though some traditions assign a different number)
The Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary, of Roman Catholic, Anglican, and other traditions
There are seven suicides mentioned in the Bible (OT and NT).[5]
The seven terraces of Mount Purgatory (one per deadly sin)
The Seven Virtues: chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness, patience, and humility
In the genealogy in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is 77th in a direct line
The number of heads of the three beasts (7 × 10 × 7 + 7 × 10 × 10 + 7 × 10 = 1260) of the - - Book of Revelation, and of some other monsters, like the hydra and the number of seals

[Wikipedia]

But other religions and cultures reserve special significance for the number as well. It is "a highly symbolic number in the Torah, alluding to the infusion of spirituality and Godliness into the creation," and "the Seven Lucky Gods refer to the seven gods of good fortune in Japanese mythology."

[Ibid.]

There is too much more to list here.

Why do we "beat seven bells out of" someone?

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