How did the slang meaning of flog come about? I've searched multiple dictionaries and Etymonline but the only origin for "flog" that I can find is: 1670s, slang, perhaps a schoolboy shortening of L flagellare "flagellate " This clearly rela
meaning in context - What does beating the bishop mean? - English . . . Eric Partridge, Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, fifth edition (1961) has this entry: bishop, flog the (Of men) to masturbate: low: late C 19–20 Also bash the bishop (esp Army) Ex resemblance of glans penis to episcopal mitre or, more probably, to chess bishop
Origin of tan someones hide as in Im gonna tan your hide Doubling back to Brockett's 1825 glossary, and an 1830 publication by Robert Forby (Vocabulary of East Anglia, a vocabulary which the title page advertises as having been collected in the last two decades of the 1700s), I observe that two other survivals (along with 'tan your hide' and 'lam') from the 18th century suggest the close association
I use to, or I used to - English Language Usage Stack Exchange As reported by the NOAD in a note about the usage of used: There is sometimes confusion over whether to use the form used to or use to, which has arisen largely because the pronunciation is the same in both cases Except in negatives and questions, the correct form is used to: we used to go to the movies all the time (not we use to go to the movies) However, in negatives and questions using
popular refrains - English Language Usage Stack Exchange Is there a saying like that? I'm thinking it's something along the lines of working something too hard I don't want to attempt to word it because I'll most likely butcher it horribly
Should the verb impact be always followed by on? Nowadays, we often see the word impact being used as a verb My question is, should it be always followed by the preposition on? Oxford Dictionaries gives the following example: The cuts will
orthography - Waling vs wailing vs whaling upon - English Language . . . Now U S colloq trans To beat, flog, thrash 1790 F Grose Provinc Gloss (ed 2) Whale, to beat with a horsewhip or pliant stick transf intr To do something implied by the context continuously or vehemently a1852 F M Whitcher Widow Bedott Papers (1883) vi 67 You remember that one that come round a spell ago a whalin' away about human