knout

American  

[nout] / naʊt /

noun

1. a whip with a lash of leather thongs, formerly used in Russia for flogging criminals.

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verb (used with object)

1. to flog with the knout.

knout British  

/ naʊt /

noun

1. a stout whip used formerly in Russia as an instrument of punishment

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Etymology

Origin of knout

1710–20; < French < Russian knut, Old Russian < Old Norse knūtr knot

Example Sentences

In Russia the Nihilists prefer chaos to the government of the bayonet, Siberia and the knout, and these intrepid men have kept upon the coast of despotism one beacon fire of hope.

From Project Gutenberg

Look at Russia, the land that so long retained serfdom and the knout,--even there the number of learned women is perceptibly increasing, and the Russian high schools do not reject female pupils.

From Project Gutenberg

We are, so say our enemies, but little given to laudation, and far too ready when occasion offers, and sometimes when it does not, to clutch hastily at the knout.

From Project Gutenberg

I shall never forget that awful jolting I got as you whirled me round about In your backless car; for your bumping, bolting, You really, my Vanka, deserved the knout.

From Project Gutenberg

"Anima Vilis" is a novel dealing with life in Siberia as it really is, not as we have hitherto imagined it, a land of knouts, inhuman Russian officials, and sundry other horrors.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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