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lambaste \lam-BAYST\, transitive verb:
1. To give a thrashing to; to beat severely.
2. To scold sharply; to attack verbally; to berate.

. . . someone who spends most of his time lambasting his opponents for supporting the wrong ideas and the wrong courses of action.
--Richard Bernstein, "A Conservative Who's Outgrown His Pigeonhole," [1] New York Times, August 11, 1995

Evening after evening, Hiro and his teammates were lambasted for their failures and shortcomings.
--Noboru Yoshimura and Philip Anderson, [2] Inside the Kaisha

Michael Porter, a leading Harvard business guru, offered further ammunition to critics of Europe's economic management, lambasting continental business culture for failing to promote entrepreneurship.
--Gary Duncan, "Euro 'likely to mean single government,' " [3] Times (London), January 27, 2001

Eventually, at a 1965 conference of African and Asian revolutionaries in Algiers, he exploded, publicly lambasting the Russian leaders as "accomplices to imperialist exploitation."
--Peter Canby, "Poster Boy for the Revolution," [4]New York Times, May 18, 1997

Lambaste is perhaps from lam, "to beat soundly; to thrash" + baste, "to beat vigorously."