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flog

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flog the dolphin

vulgar slang Of a man, to masturbate.

See also: flog

flog the log

vulgar slang Of a man, to masturbate.

See also: flog, log

flog a dead horse

 and beat a dead horse

Fig. to insist on talking about something that no one is interested in, or that has already been thoroughly discussed. The history teacher lectured us every day about the importance of studying history, until we begged him to stop flogging a dead horse. Jill: I think I'll write the company president another letter asking him to prohibit smoking. Jane: There's no use beating a dead horse, Jill; he's already decided to let people smoke.

See also: dead, flog, horse

flog someone to death

Lit. to beat someone to death with a whip. In the movie, the captain ordered the first mate to flog the sailor to death.

See also: death, flog

flog something to death

Fig. to dwell on something so much that it no longer has any interest. Stop talking about this! You've flogged it to death. Walter almost flogged the whole matter to death before we stopped him.

See also: death, flog

beat a dead horse

to waste time doing something that has already been attempted Do you think it's worth sending my manuscript to other publishers or I am just beating a dead horse?

See also: beat, dead, horse

flog a dead horse

  (British, American & Australian) also beat a dead horse (American)

to waste time trying to do something that will not succeed (usually in continuous tenses) You're flogging a dead horse trying to persuade Simon to come to Spain with us - he hates going abroad. Do you think it's worth sending my manuscript to other publishers or I am just beating a dead horse?

See also: dead, flog, horse

flog something to death

  (British, American & Australian informal) also beat something to death (American)

to use a particular style or to discuss a particular subject so many times that it is not interesting any more He basically takes one theme and flogs it to death for three hundred and fifty pages. No sporting event is beaten to death more than the Sugar Bowl - it is analyzed again and again by the commentators.

See also: death, flog

beat a dead horse

Also, flog a dead horse. Try to revive interest in a hopeless issue. For example, Politicians who favor the old single-tax idea are beating a dead horse. From the 1600s on the term dead horse was used figuratively to mean "something of no current value," specifically an advance in pay or other debt that had to be worked ("flogged") off. [Second half of 1800s]

See also: beat, dead, horse

flog

(flɑg)

tv. to promote, hype, or support something; to try to sell something aggressively. Fred was flogging this car so hard, I figured he was trying to get rid of it.