flog

American  

[flog, flawg] / flɒg, flɔg /

verb (used with object)

• flogs,
  present (3rd person singular)
• flogged,
  past participle,  past
• flogging
  present participle

1. to beat with a whip, stick, etc., especially as punishment; whip; scourge.

   Synonyms:

   lash, thrash

2. Slang.

   1. to sell, especially aggressively or vigorously.

   2. to promote; publicize.

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flog British  

/ flɒɡ /

verb

1. (tr) to beat harshly, esp with a whip, strap, etc

2. slang (tr) to sell

3. (intr) (of a sail) to flap noisily in the wind

4. (intr) to make progress by painful work

5. to steal

6. 1. to harp on some long discarded subject

   2. to pursue the solution of a problem long realized to be insoluble

7. to persuade a person so persistently of the value of (an idea or venture) that he or she loses interest in it

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flog Idioms  

1. see beat a dead horse.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• flogger
  noun
• flogging
  noun
• overflog
  verb (used with object)
• floggable
  adjective
• unfloggable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• flogging
  present
• flogged
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• flog
  simple
• flogs
  simple
• have flogged
  perfect
• has flogged
  perfect
• am flogging
  progressive
• are flogging
  progressive
• is flogging
  progressive
• have been flogging
  perfect progressive
• has been flogging
  perfect progressive

Past

• flogged
  simple
• had flogged
  perfect
• was flogging
  progressive
• were flogging
  progressive
• had been flogging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will flog
  simple
• will have flogged
  perfect
• will be flogging
  progressive
• will have been flogging
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of flog

First recorded in 1670–80; perhaps blend of flay and jog, variant of jag ¹ “to prick, slash”; but cf. flagellate

Explanation

To flog is to beat or hit, especially with a tool like a stick or rod. A cruel trainer might flog an unruly horse with a whip. When you flog someone, you beat them as a way of punishing or controlling them. In the old days, teachers were allowed to flog misbehaving students, and it wasn't uncommon for parents to flog their children as punishment. In fact, the word flog first appeared as school slang in the late 1600s — it's thought to be a shortened form of the Latin word flagellare, "flagellate," or "whip."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

flog flogs flogged flogging

Valued at $852 billion, OpenAI does not need to flog $45 Bloop-the-bot-covered tote bags that say “Building Things.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

You’re not out to fleece anyone with egregiously high commissions or merely befriend another member because you want to flog the latest financial product.

From MarketWatch ● May 29, 2026

“If you’re right here at the top of the curve, functioning at a high level, if I flog your nicotinic receptors, you’re actually going to have a decline in performance,” he adds.

From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2025

Posters to flog tournament tickets would invariably display her image.

From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2024

“Half the time you don’t even bother locking it. You’re probably hoping someone’ll flog it so you can collect the insurance.”

From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak

And it has a sense of humor, opening with a sidewalk preacher who flogs her Bible app.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2025

Hawley's character are as outsized as ever, and the mythical Fahr-goh accent still flogs the ear – but the overwrought, flowery speeches that drowned the 2020 season aren’t as overwhelming.

From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2023

Perhaps Malkovich’s best-known film is Being John Malkovich – the brilliant absurdist comedy in which a puppeteer discovers a portal into the actor’s head and then flogs tickets for it to the public.

From The Guardian ● May 21, 2020

Avon flogs make-up and skin cream under its own brand.

From Economist ● Apr. 4, 2012

But nothing can be more offensive than the building which every tourist flogs donkey in his hurry to see-old Mohammed Ali's "Folly" in the citadel.

From Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 1 by Sir Richard Francis Burton

Model Lauren Hutton valiantly flogged Pepsi Light—“One calorie!”—but it didn’t last on the market, steamrolled by aspartame, a new sweetener, and the Diet Coke juggernaut.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

Afterwards she flogged eight fours that were rarely pretty but effective.

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026

Scores of bare-chested flagellants with covered faces walked barefoot through the dusty streets of Pampanga province's San Fernando as they flogged their backs with bamboo whips in scorching heat.

From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026

Smith flogged anything short and creamed drives whenever the ball was full.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2025

The Sicilian flogged his mind to find an answer, but he found only failure.

From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman

Both players hyped up the Dubai contest like a pair of boxers flogging a fight.

From BBC ● Dec. 28, 2025

Voters seem content to let the young talent dangle, trusting that he’ll continue flogging himself to make more great pictures like this.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025

But opportunities like last week’s flogging of the new Porsche 911 Turbo S on Circuito Ascari are rare and require considerable schlepping.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025

But it’s also part of Netflix’s “rise and fall” true crime genre, cautioning against believing in figures like Johnson, who hooks young men by flogging a version of caveman masculinity that associates virility with dominance.

From Salon ● Jun. 1, 2025

And if someone had told me at the time that this flogging clergyman was one day to become the Archbishop of Canterbury, I would never have believed it.

From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl

Related Words

• castigate
• chastise
• spank