punching bag
an inflated or stuffed bag, usually suspended, punched with the fists as an exercise.
Informal. a person serving as an object of abuse; scapegoat: I told him that I wasn't going to be a punching bag for anyone.
Origin of punching bag
1Words Nearby punching bag
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use punching bag in a sentence
So this is Kendall Roy, once the family golden boy and now the punching bag.
If they had managed to hold that lead over the Rams, it would have made him far less of a punching bag.
At Least The Lions Tried | Sara Ziegler (sara.ziegler@fivethirtyeight.com) | October 25, 2021 | FiveThirtyEight“We’re just human punching bags,” the nurse, Jesse Telford, told a Boston TV station.
Covid-19 has made an already dangerous profession lethal | Petula Dvorak | April 22, 2021 | Washington PostFor however long, if not forever, Nielsen’s panel has been a punching bag for both TV networks and TV advertisers to complain that they were the ones getting a raw deal.
For instance, he points out, Charlemagne treated Saxony like his own personal punching bag.
How the Vikings Saved Europe and Got a Terrible Reputation | William O’Connor | September 17, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
He has become something of a critical punching bag of late, a thought that seemed impossible for most of his career.
Al Pacino Does What He Wants to Do: 'The Humbling,' Scorsese, and That 'Scarface' Remake | Alex Suskind | September 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTKardashian's most famous gig was as Paris Hilton's own closet organizer/punching bag/silent friend.
Kim Kardashian’s Days as Paris Hilton’s Lowly Assistant | Amy Zimmerman | May 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTA punching bag as treasury secretary, Geithner finally gets to unload in ‘Stress Test.’
Speed Read: The Juiciest Bits From Timothy Geithner’s New Memoir | William O’Connor | May 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWalmart is clearly growing tired of being a punching bag and poster child for low wages.
Walmart Calls Out The Nation for Its Low-Wage Internship Program | Anna Batchelor | August 7, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTYou know my little two-room affair behind the chapel,—only a few books and a punching bag.
The House of a Thousand Candles | Meredith NicholsonThey were shoving some one here and there, making a punching bag of him, at the same time laughing uproariously.
Ted Strong's Motor Car | Edward C. TaylorWeighing about one hundred and thirty pounds my work upon the human punching bag was beginning to tell.
Nat Goodwin's Book | Nat C. GoodwinThe punching-bag and other purely masculine paraphernalia had been banished to his own room, and the living-room, alas!
Kildares of Storm | Eleanor Mercein KellyI made it into a tight bundle and hung it on a springy limb to use for a punching-bag.
Jim Spurling, Fisherman | Albert Walter Tolman
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