flog

See also: flög

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /flɒɡ/
• Rhymes: -ɒɡ
• (US) IPA^(key): /flɑɡ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English *floggen (suggested by flogge (“hammer, sledge”), from Old English *floggian, a stem variant of Proto-Germanic *flukkōną (“to beat”), itself a secondary zero-grade iterative with unetymological -u-, derived from *flōkaną.

The original zero-grade iterative *flakkōną had been misinterpreted as an o-grade. See flack (“to beat”), also as a dialectal noun "a blow, slap". Cognate with Scots flog (“a blow, stripe, flogging”, noun), Scots flog (“thin strip of wood”), Norwegian flak (“a piece torn off, strip”).

Alternatively, a back-formation from flogger, from Low German flogger (“a flail”).

Verb

flog (third-person singular simple present flogs, present participle flogging, simple past and past participle flogged)

1. (transitive) To whip or scourge as punishment.
2. (transitive) To use something to extreme; to abuse.
   • 2002 October 30, Chris Wardrop, “VL idles rough when warm...”, in aus.cars‎^[1] (Usenet):

     I did seven laps of Fyshwick with the mechanic today. I was turning lots of heads on the last few, people must of thought I was nuts, flogging the car then stopping, then driving slow then flogging it again.

3. (transitive, UK, slang) To sell.
   • 2001 January 26, Paul Edwards, “Optus $5/month 5110, T10 and 2288 only 4 days”, in aus.comms.mobile‎^[2] (Usenet):

     And then there's my part time job at Telstra Bigpond flogging their cable network for just $67.55/month long term cost, a BARGAIN, and the other part time job flogging Foxtel at something like $50/month.

   • 2007, Dave Lee (jazz musician), Nothing Rhymes with Silver 2‎^[3], page 78:

     Flanders was able to flog his piece of land, for which he had originally paid £4,000, to one of the largest gold-mining corporations for something like a couple of million smackers.

4. (transitive, Australia, New Zealand) To steal something.
5. (transitive, Australia, New Zealand) To defeat easily or convincingly.
   • 1999 August 16, Mr Ripper, “Nothing to Crow About”, in rec.sport.football.australian‎^[4] (Usenet):

     The Swannies got on a real roll over rounds 16/17 & 18 of 1987. In consecutive SCG matches, they flogged the Eags 30.21 to 10.11, followed that with a 36.20 to 11.7 demolition of the Dons and finally a 31.12 to 15.17 thrashing of Richmond.

   • 2001 June 9, Cas., “Eng v Aus 1977”, in aus.sport.cricket‎^[5] (Usenet):

     Anyone with cable watch this on ESPN "History of Cricket" last night? Australia got flogged by an innings in the fourth test.

   • 2004 June 5, Greg Vincent }:c{, “POLISER- Roosters v Bulldogs”, in aus.sport.rugby-league‎^[6] (Usenet):

     It'll make the Raiders look good. Getting flogged by a team that got flogged by a team that got flogged by the Bulldogs.

6. (transitive, Australia, agriculture) To overexploit (land), as by overgrazing, overstocking, etc.
   • 2007 February 6, “Suppliers the losers in Coles-Woolworths war”, in The Age:

     The environment is paying dearly as producers flog their land. Sustainable agriculture needs a new generation of energised science and technology-trained farmers

7. (theater) To beat away charcoal dust etc. using a flogger.

Synonyms

• (to whip or scourge): Thesaurus:whip

Derived terms

• flog a dead horse
• flog a dead pony
• flog-bottomist
• floggable
• floggee
• flogger
• flog someone round the fleet
• flog the clock
• flog the dolphin
• flog the log

 

Translations

to whip or scourge as punishment

• Catalan: assotar (ca), flagel·lar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鞭打 (zh) (biāndǎ), 鞭笞 (zh) (biānchī), 棰 (zh) (chuí)

• Czech: bičovat (cs) impf
• Dutch: geselen (nl)
• Esperanto: skurĝi
• Finnish: ruoskia (fi), piiskata (fi), piestä (fi)
• French: flageller (fr), fouetter (fr)
• Galician: fustrigar, xostrear (gl), xostregar
• German: geißeln (de), peitschen (de)
• Greek: μαστιγώνω (el) (mastigóno), δέρνω (el) (dérno)

  Ancient Greek: ἱμάσσω (himássō), μαστιγόω (mastigóō)

• Hungarian: megvesszőz (hu)
• Ido: knutagar (io)
• Irish: liúr
• Italian: flagellare (it), frustare (it)
• Japanese: 鞭打つ (むちうつ, muchiutsu)
• Latgalian: pērt
• Latin: verbero
• Latvian: pērt
• Lithuanian: perti
• Maori: wepu
• Polish: chłostać (pl), biczować (pl) impf, ubiczować pf
• Portuguese: chicotear (pt), açoitar (pt)
• Romanian: flagela (ro), biciui (ro)
• Russian: поро́ть (ru) impf (porótʹ), стега́ть (ru) impf (stegátʹ), сечь (ru) impf (sečʹ), хлеста́ть (ru) impf (xlestátʹ), бичева́ть (ru) impf (bičevátʹ)
• Spanish: azotar (es), flagelar (es), latigar, fustigar (es)
• Swedish: prygla (sv), piska (sv)
• Ukrainian: шмага́ти impf (šmaháty), бато́жити (uk) impf (batóžyty), сікти́ impf (siktý)

to sell — see sell,‎ sling

to steal — see steal

to defeat — see defeat

agriculture: to exploit

• Finnish: ryöstöviljellä
• Italian: sfruttare (it), spremere (it)
• Spanish: esquilmar (es), explotar (es)

Noun

flog (plural flogs)

1. (Australia, informal, derogatory) A contemptible, often arrogant person; a wanker.
   • 2019 June 15, Goya Dmytryshchak, “AFL fan outrage at 'behaviourial awareness officers'”, in The Age‎^[7]:

     It follows the ejection of a supporter who allegedly ran towards umpire Mathew Nicholls while calling him a "bald-headed flog" at half-time of the Carlton-Brisbane Lions match last Saturday.

See also

• flail
• flay
• vapulate

Etymology 2

Blend of fake +‎ blog

Noun

flog (plural flogs)

1. (Internet slang) A weblog designed to look authentic, but actually developed as part of a commercial marketing strategy to promote some product or service.
   • 2008, Lucas Conley, OBD: Obsessive Branding Disorder:

     Though a handful of viral videos and flogs have captured significant interest, the vast majority hardly register with consumers.

   • 2009, Nico Carpentier, Benjamin De Cleen, Participation and Media Production: Critical Reflections on Content Creation, page 33:

     An element more problematic […] in the move of corporate communications and practices online is the sometimes masked nature of such initiatives, for example through blogola and flogs.

   • 2010, Beata Klimkiewicz, Media Freedom and Pluralism:

     […] hidden advertising and flogs (the use of “personal blogs” for unfair commercial and political purposes), […]

Synonyms

• spamblog
• splog

Anagrams

• GLOF, golf

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /floːk/

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

Verb

flog

1. past of fliegen

Icelandic

Etymology

Doublet (showing a-mutation) of flug (“flight; cliff”), from Old Norse flog, flug (“flight; cliff; an illness of the head”), from Proto-Germanic *flugą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈflɔːɣ/
• Rhymes: -ɔːɣ

Noun

flog n (genitive singular flogs, nominative plural flog)

1. (obsolete, poetic) flight (the act of flying)
2. seizure (sudden attack [of an illness], convulsion, e.g. an epileptic seizure)
3. seizure (sudden onset of pain)

Related terms

• flogaveiki

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse flog.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /floːɡ/

Noun

flog n (definite singular floget, indefinite plural flog, definite plural floga)

1. a flight (the act of flying)
2. a steep drop, near vertical cliff

References

• “flog” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /floːɡ/, [floːɣ]

Verb

flōg

1. first/third-person singular preterite indicative of flēan

Volapük

Noun

flog (nominative plural flogs)

1. flake

Declension

declension of flog

	singular	plural
nominative	flog	flogs
genitive	floga	flogas
dative	floge	floges
accusative	flogi	flogis
vocative 1	o flog!	o flogs!
predicative 2	flogu	flogus

• ¹ status as a case is disputed
• ² in later, non-classical Volapük only

Welsh

Pronunciation

• • IPA^(key): /vlɔɡ/

Noun

flog

1. Soft mutation of blog.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
blog	flog	mlog	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.