floggings
Whip-based corporal penalties
Floggings are beatings administered as punishment, typically with a whip, rod, or cane.
The term evokes historical contexts—naval discipline, colonial justice, slavery—where such corporal punishment was routine: The captain ordered twenty lashes; floggings were common for minor infractions.
Figuratively, a flogging is any severe defeat or harsh criticism: The team took a flogging in the semifinals.
Strike or bind
- whippingRepeated striking blows
- caningStriking with a rod
- birchingStriking with bundled twigs
- corporalOf the flesh
beating · strokes · sentence · penalty · discipline · correction · deterrence · convict
Braided whip with nine strands
- scourgeCause of mass suffering
- knoutLeather flogging implement
- bullwhipLong braided cattle lash
- strapNarrow flexible binding material
birch · switch · cane · crop · horsewhip · rawhide · flail · thong
Of maritime warfare
- slaveryOwnership of people
- prisonConfinement for offenders
- militaryArmed forces collectively
- colonialOf occupied territories
plantation · penal · galley · mutiny · desertion · insubordination · pillory · stocks
lash
Strike or bind
corporal · beating · strokes · sentence · penalty · discipline · correction · deterrence · convict · offender
cat-o'-nine-tails
Braided whip with nine strands
strap · birch · switch · cane · crop · horsewhip · rawhide · flail · thong · quirt
naval
Of maritime warfare
colonial · plantation · penal · galley · mutiny · desertion · insubordination · pillory · stocks · public
agony
Extreme physical or emotional pain
- weltsRaised skin from impact
- woundsBodily tissue damage
- lacerationTorn, ragged wound
bleeding · scarring · bruising · suffering · torment · anguish · rawness · stinging · smarting · soreness
brutal
Savagely harsh or severe
cruel · barbaric · savage · vicious · ruthless · pitiless · harsh · unrelenting · draconian · barbarous
- thrashingsbeatings, drubbings, thrashings, whippings, lickings
floggingspardon
Official release from punishment
amnesty · acquittal · clemency · exoneration · rewards
floggingscaresses
Touches gently with love
massages · embraces · comforting · nurturing · tenderness
- flogging a dead horse
- public floggingPunishment by whip, witnessed
- flogging dead horsePersisting uselessly with something finished