Beaten hollow by two little boys! (6)
I believe the answer is:
dented
'beaten hollow by two little boys' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with contact as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'beaten hollow by' is the wordplay.
'beaten' becomes 'ed' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'hollow' becomes 'dent' (both can mean an impression or indentation).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'ed' put after 'dent' is 'DENTED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dented that I've seen before include "Bashed in" , "Dinged" , "Tended to be depresed" , "Made small depression in metal surface" , "Made depression in through pressure or impact" .)