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Synonyms

horsewhip

American  
[hawrs-hwip, -wip] / ˈhɔrsˌʰwɪp, -ˌwɪp /

noun

  1. a whip for controlling horses.


verb (used with object)

horsewhipped, horsewhipping
  1. to beat with a horsewhip.

horsewhip British  
/ ˈhɔːsˌwɪp /

noun

  1. a whip, usually with a long thong, used for managing horses

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. (tr) to flog with such a whip

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of horsewhip

1300–50; Middle English. See horse, whip

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:

Then on one spring day in April 2016, Margaret did something for the first time in her riding life: She dropped her horsewhip.

From Washington Post Oct. 31, 2019

That dropped horsewhip, they soon knew, was an early sign of the brain tumors that would end her life a year later.

From Washington Post Oct. 31, 2019

In an incident reported in the British papers, the father of the young woman who would become Mr. Wilson’s second wife once descended on a dinner party in the couple’s London flat, brandishing a horsewhip.

From New York Times Dec. 12, 2013

Every year thousands of Mongols visit a shrine in the Ordos region where Genghis is said to have dropped a horsewhip during his final campaign and where he reportedly wanted to be buried.

From Time Magazine Archive

Jemmy found the horsewhip where Hold-Your- Nose Billy had dropped it.

From "The Whipping Boy" by Sid Fleischman

Young Bennett lived in Europe for most of his childhood; his mother could not abide the ostracism of a polite society that noticed her husband only when it horsewhipped him.

From Time Magazine Archive

When her former guide & friend Johann Most made slighting remarks about Berkman, Emma horsewhipped him publicly.

From Time Magazine Archive

Yes; Ardsley doesn't often have such a sensation as its wealthiest citizen being horsewhipped.

From Reels and Spindles A Story of Mill Life by Merrill, Frank T. (Frank Thayer)

Ben Taylor was present when Lola Montez horsewhipped Henry Shibley, editor of the Grass Valley National, for what she considered derogatory reflections on herself, published in his paper.

From A Tramp Through the Bret Harte Country by Beasley, Thomas Dykes

They even say that he horsewhipped you——" "Pray don't overtax your powers of invention.

From Black Oxen by Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn

Dozens of readers are arguing about the credibility of the plot line that saw Thomas’ misunderstanding with Jimmy the junior footman result in his receiving a promotion rather than a jail term or a horsewhipping.

From Slate Feb. 11, 2013

"The Four Seasons," to San Francisco, are the four socialite daughters of horsewhipping Mike De Young, who founded the Chronicle in 1865 and died in 1925.

From Time Magazine Archive

Apology!" said Durfy, "apology for a horsewhipping, indeed!

From Handy Andy, Volume One A Tale of Irish Life, in Two Volumes by Lover, Samuel

In any matter of horsewhipping the truth hardly ever gets itself correctly known.

From The Prime Minister by Trollope, Anthony

At the Four Courts, Dublin, I saw a waiter who witnessed the famous horsewhipping in that city.

From Ireland as It Is And as It Would be Under Home Rule by Buckley, Robert John

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