The man's receiving little knock in instances of corporal punishment (7)
I believe the answer is:
hidings
'instances of corporal punishment' is the definition.
(as in giving someone a hiding)
'the man's receiving little knock' is the wordplay.
'the man's' becomes 'his' (belonging to a man).
'receiving' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'little knock' becomes 'ding' (ding can mean a hit or blow).
'his' going around 'ding' is 'HIDINGS'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for hidings that I've seen before include "concealed?" , "Beatings" .)