Meanings
plural whipping posts
- A post or pillory to which a criminal is tied, and flagellated.
Opposite the almshouses is the bow-fronted post office and shop, while near by, beneath the trees on the green, is the old whipping post and stocks, the latter pierced by five holes.
1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 541 more example
“Well, I got some brochures here on some very impressive private schools in the area. Here you go.” “Hmm?” “I'm just gonna put it down here.” “Well, you can forget this one. Doesn't have a cricket field. Or even a whipping post.” “Good point.”
2022 August 9, Ayo Edebiri & Shana Gohd, “Private School” (6:20 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 4, episode 5, spoken by Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry)
Cite this entry
whipping post. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whipping%20post
“whipping post.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whipping%20post. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “whipping post,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whipping%20post.
Source: whipping post on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.