flogged; flogging

transitive verb

1
a
: to beat with or as if with a rod or whip
The sailors were flogged for attempting a mutiny.
b
: to criticize harshly
He was flogged in the press for failing to take action.
2
: to force or urge into action : drive
3
a
chiefly British : to sell (something, such as stolen goods) illegally
flogged their employers' petrol to ordinary motoristsEconomist
b
: sell sense 7
traveled by horse, flogging encyclopediasRobert Darnton
flogging wares at the local discount outletRonald Henkoff
c
: to promote aggressively : plug
flying around the world flogging your moviesPeter Bogdanovich
4
British : steal sense 1

intransitive verb

1
: flap, flutter
sails flogging
2
British : to move along with difficulty : slog
flogger noun

Examples of flog in a Sentence

The sailors were flogged for attempting a mutiny. a graphic depiction of a sailor being flogged by the captain for disobeying orders
Recent Examples on the Web Meanwhile, an ascendant right wing is busy flogging the concept of the nuclear family — heterosexual, natch — with men as breadwinners and women maintaining the home and raising children. Carolina A. Miranda, Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2024 That’s a much greater effort than most veteran acts put into flogging new material on the road. Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 30 Jan. 2024 John Szabo, the City librarian and sealer of the deal, promises the library won’t suddenly start flogging books for sale. Boris Kachka, Los Angeles Times, 13 Jan. 2024 Many of the poems Glück wrote in her early 20s flog her own obsessions with, and failures in, control and exactitude. Amy X. Wang, New York Times, 22 Dec. 2023 McCord, for example, flogged a black schoolteacher who had punished a misbehaving white pupil. Daniel Foster, National Review, 30 Nov. 2023 In the musical, Pontius Pilate is the governor of the Roman province of Judea and has Jesus flogged to appease a mob demanding for Jesus’s crucifixion. Valerie Wu, Variety, 8 Jan. 2024 Common sense says Trump has been remaking the Republican Party in his own image both by encouraging imitators and by flogging dissenters. Gabriel N. Rosenberg, The New Republic, 3 Nov. 2023 The stainless steel exhaust is also new and should provide an excellent soundtrack for a weekend's backroad flogging. Brendan McAleer, Car and Driver, 26 Aug. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'flog.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

perhaps modification of Latin flagellare to whip — more at flagellate

First Known Use

circa 1676, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of flog was circa 1676

Dictionary Entries Near flog

Cite this Entry

“Flog.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flog. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

flog

verb
flogged; flogging
: to beat severely with or as if with a rod or whip
flogger noun

More from Merriam-Webster on flog

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