whipping post
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of whipping post
First recorded in 1590–1600
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.
It doesn’t really matter, but the next-to-last image, presumably supposed to represent slavery in the United States, actually depicts a whipping post in Delaware.
From Slate • Mar. 31, 2019
"I don't want to have this conflict. I don't want to be in the spotlight. And I certainly don't want to be a whipping post," Davis said.
From US News • Sep. 14, 2015
"I don't want to have this conflict. I don't want to be in the spotlight, and I certainly don't want to be a whipping post," said Davis, who like the governor is a Democrat.
From Reuters • Sep. 14, 2015
“It was becoming too much like a whipping post, my dear!” he said, his face reddening.
From The New Yorker • Sep. 25, 2014
By law all counties had to build and maintain a courthouse, jail, pillory, whipping post, and stocks.
From The Fairfax County Courthouse by Netherton, Ross De Witt
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.
