whipping post
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈwɪpɪŋ poʊst/
- Offensive
:
poste de azotes
- Wilson laid a Ku Klux Klan hood inside a stroller and surrounded a slave whipping post with five delicate antique chairs.
Examples
-
Jamie spent the night in chains and went to the whipping post first thing in the morning.
Fiction book (1991) -
Nothing bound him to the tree, his whipping post, but he was fixed there, without the will to move.
Fiction book (2000) -
It's called the whipping post.
-
I am not your whipping post.
Blog text (1) -
According to the report, any Palestinian caught drinking or selling wine would suffer 40 lashes at the whipping post if the bill passes.
Blog text (2) -
Through the hellish smoke, he sees ABOU FATMA, still tied to the whipping post, staring at him in silent reproach.
Fiction book (2002) -
The accused was publicly tied to a whipping post as punishment for his crimes.
-
In colonial times, a whipping post was commonly used for punishing wrongdoers in front of the community.
-
The sight of the whipping post reminded everyone of the harsh penalties for those who broke the law.
Antonyms
How Painful
- NSFW
1
9.9
- NSFW
12
9.9
- Offensive
1
9.9
- Archaic
1
9.9
73
4.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and literally built from 'whipping' (beating as punishment) + 'post' (an upright stake); a B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer this is a post used for whipping. This noun–noun composition is transparent and follows straightforward English compounding patterns familiar across languages, so prior exposure is not required for comprehension.
Etymology
Whipping post is a noun that names a real object: a strong wooden post where a person was tied and given a whipping in front of people as a public 'punishment'. That's why the term means the post used for public physical 'punishment'.