As a non-native reader, I stumbled upon the meaning of "get a serious reaming" and it seemed to be an idiomatic expression for being punished. At least the first Google matches seem to suggest this.
Is this the whole truth, or does this idiom implicate something important besides it?
Best Answer
One of the meanings of the verb ream is
The gerund form, reaming, is used as a noun to mean a serious rebuke.
Your phrase means to receive a very serious rebuke.
As to its source, etymonline.com give a first use for this meaning as 1950, but does not indicate the derivation. It also notes as a meaning anal sex, dating back to 1942.
There may be a connection between these two uses. In US slang, it is not uncommon to use reference to unwelcome sexual contact to indicate a person was seriously harmed by someone who has power over them, as in
To the extent that reaming might be understood to refer to anal sex (in a pejorative way), it may have migrated to mean being abusively dominated and thence to humiliated through criticism.