gauler

to beat, beat down (with a pole); to catch

“Séverine serrait les dents. Vernon s'était fait gauler bêtement — et il avait été surpris qu’elle ne le quitte pas immédiatement.” — Séverine gritted her teeth. Vernon had been stupidly caught in the act — and had been surprised that she did not leave him there and then.

Inherited from Middle French gauler (“to knock down with a pole”), from Old French gauler, wauller (“to fight with a pole”), from gaule, waulle (“long pole, rod”), from Frankish *walu (“stick”), from Proto-Germanic *waluz (“stick, root”), from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, wind, roll”). By surface analysis, gaule + -er. More at gaule.