belash

English

Etymology

From Middle English bilasshen, bylaschen, bilaisshen, equivalent to be- +‎ lash.

Verb

belash (third-person singular simple present belashes, present participle belashing, simple past and past participle belashed)

1. (transitive, archaic) To strike or flog with a lash; take a lash to
   • 1869, William M. Cooper, Flagellation and the Flagellants, page 386:

     The same mother, Agnes Paston, enters among her errands in London a commission to her son's tutor, Greenfield, to "belash" his charge till he amend, he being then fifteen and having been some time at Cambridge.

   • 1882, The Boy's Own Annual, volume 5, page 734:

     […] begging him "to belash" her son, as his last master had done […]

   • 1896, MacMillan's Magazine, volume 73, page 295:

     […] the men pulling them up with a jerk to alight and chastise some flagrant offender; and finally a babel of dismal howls and angry ascrying^[sic], as the long rods are shortened to a convenient length and the process of belashing begins.

Related terms

• belashed

Anagrams

• Hables, shalbe