whipping boy

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noun

a person who is made to bear the blame for another's mistake; scapegoat.

(formerly) a boy educated along with and taking punishment in place of a young prince or nobleman.

Nearby words

whipped, whipper-in, whippersnapper, whippet, whipping, whipping boy, whipping cream, whipping post, whipple, whipple's disease, whipple's operation

Origin of whipping boy

First recorded in 1640–50

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for whipping boy

But she's had to understand that I won't be her friend's whipping-boy.
Regiment of Women|Clemence Dane
The most familiar example of whipping-boy is mentioned by Fuller in his "Church History."
Little Folks (October 1884)|Various
As a whipping-boy he was too spiritless to be satisfying, and Lady Barbara addressed herself to the invitation.
Lady Lilith|Stephen McKenna
When he went to school he was always the whipping-boy and always the object of his schoolfellows' mockery.
Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology|C. G. Jung

He was no longer a mere excrescence on the face of the earth—a poor, puny Pincher who was everybody's whipping-boy.
Pincher Martin, O.D.|H. Taprell Dorling

British Dictionary definitions for whipping boy

whipping boy

noun

a person of little importance who is blamed for the errors, incompetence, etc, of others, esp his superiors; scapegoat

Word Origin for whipping boy

C17: originally referring to a boy who was educated with a prince and who received punishment for any faults committed by the prince

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

Idioms and Phrases with whipping boy

whipping boy

A scapegoat, as in This department's always been the whipping boy when things don't go well. This expression alludes to the former practice of keeping a boy to be whipped in place of a prince who was to be punished. [Early 1900s]