flogger

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   A whip with several strands, used for beating, or a person who beats someone with such a whip.

   Grammar: Plural is floggers: the flogger was hung on a hook.

   Patterns

   • a leather flogger

   The museum displayed a leather flogger once used on ships.

   Old naval records mention a flogger on each warship.

   He kept a flogger among his props for the play.

2. 2nouncountableBritishinformal

   A person who sells things, especially in a pushy or sneaky way.

   Grammar: British slang; countable: a car flogger.

   Patterns

   • a flogger of something

   The market was full of floggers selling cheap watches.

   He worked as a flogger of used cars.

   A flogger knocked on the door offering tea towels.

3. 3nouncountablerare

   A person who whips water, such as with a fishing line or a long rod.

   Grammar: Rare; used in angling contexts: a fly flogger.

   Patterns

   • a flogger of the river

   The flogger stood waist-deep, casting at dawn.

   Local floggers of the stream complained of low trout numbers.

   A keen flogger, he fished every weekend.

Word forms

Common combinations

leather flogger

A leather flogger hung on the wall.

car flogger

He is a car flogger by trade.

market flogger

A market flogger shouted prices.

naval flogger

The naval flogger was feared aboard ship.

Synonyms and how they differ

whip

A whip is the general tool; a flogger usually has several tails.

hawker

Hawker means a street seller and is less pushy in tone than the British slang flogger.

peddler

Peddler suggests a traveling seller of small goods.

Word family

flog verb

to beat with a whip; in British slang, to sell

flogging noun

a beating with a whip

Commonly confused: flogger or blogger?

Practice

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