flog
Americanverb
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(tr) to beat harshly, esp with a whip, strap, etc
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slang (tr) to sell
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(intr) (of a sail) to flap noisily in the wind
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(intr) to make progress by painful work
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to steal
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to harp on some long discarded subject
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to pursue the solution of a problem long realized to be insoluble
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to persuade a person so persistently of the value of (an idea or venture) that he or she loses interest in it
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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floggernoun
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floggingnoun
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overflogverb (used with object)
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floggableadjective
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unfloggableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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flogsimple
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flogssimple
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have floggedperfect
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has floggedperfect
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am floggingprogressive
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are floggingprogressive
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is floggingprogressive
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have been floggingperfect progressive
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has been floggingperfect progressive
Past
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floggedsimple
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had floggedperfect
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was floggingprogressive
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were floggingprogressive
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had been floggingperfect progressive
Future
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."
Vocabulary lists containing flog
"Shooting an Elephant"
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The Magician's Nephew
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Selection Vocabulary 1, Unit 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
I share this not to publicly flog myself for another travel faux pas but to give you hope or prompt you to broaden your search.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 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
The people trying to flog the "error collectables" are probably glad he didn't.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2025
“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
“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
There’s an equally queasy undercurrent in “Shattered Glass,” which flogs a glass ceiling metaphor.
From New York Times ● Aug. 25, 2014
A TV producer flogs an idea to pay for his gambling debts; a Mexican maid finds the money to pay for a private medical consultation; soldiers are bullied; an Elvis impersonator does a good turn.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 17, 2013
In doing this he sometimes flogs about him pretty lively with the whip.
From Around the World on a Bicycle - Volume II From Teheran To Yokohama by Thomas Stevens
Mr. Mamdani’s team flogged a 2001 city memo that estimated the city could face 35,000 potential plaintiffs from “toxic tort cases that might arise in the next few decades.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
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
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
Needing 254 for victory – a record in this competition - after being flogged around Wankhede Stadium, Bethell hit a scarcely believable 105 from 48 balls to threaten one of England's all-time white-ball victories.
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2026
The Sicilian flogged his mind to find an answer, but he found only failure.
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
When he was first brought into the attack on day three, Head pounced immediately, flogging boundaries from each of the Durham seamer's first three balls.
From BBC ● Apr. 1, 2026
The Milan-Cortina Games have hardly been an exception, although there have been no reports of public flogging.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2026
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
After witnessing a sailor’s flogging, Cândido led a revolt against regular whipping by officers in 1910.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 29, 2024
Of the twelve members of the committee, five were elsewhere, flogging some or another piece of legislation.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
