whipping boy en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
First recorded in 1647. It is debated if this type of proxy punishment actually existed, or how widespread it was.
Meanings
-
(historical) A boy who was whipped in the stead of a misbehaving prince in early modern Europe.
As the whipping boy, he must take the whippings for the royal heir, Prince Brat.
-
(qualifier:transferred sense) Someone punished for the errors of others.
In others he denounces it as rank Judaism, the Jew having at that time become for him the whipping boy for all modern humanity.
1902 [1898], [George] Bernard Shaw, The Perfect Wagnerite […] , second edition, London: Grant Richards, page 103:Once upon a time there was a little Power, the half-bankrupt wreck of a once great empire, that lost its temper with England, the whipping-boy of all the world, and behaved, as every one knows, most scandalously.
1899, Rudyard Kipling, “Judson and the Empire”, in Soldiers Three:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| whipping-boy | alternative | lexicographic | |
| whipping boys | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Coordinates
Synonyms
patsy · scapegoat · sacrificial lamb · whipping boy · Joe Soap · fall guy · escapegoat · scapegoat · folk devil · goat
Translations (29)
la plāgipatida (someone punished for the errors of others) · hu pofozógép (someone punished for the errors of others) · pt bode expiatório (someone punished for the errors of others) · es chivo expiatorio (someone punished for the errors of others) · sv strykgosse (someone punished for the errors of others) · ru козёл отпуще́ния (someone punished for the errors of others) · fr lampiste (someone punished for the errors of others) · eo vipanta knabon (someone punished for the errors of others) · sv strykpojke (someone punished for the errors of others) · ro țap ispășitor (someone punished for the errors of others) · fr souffre-douleur (someone punished for the errors of others) · hy մտրակող տղա (someone punished for the errors of others) · pl chłopiec do bicia (someone punished for the errors of others) · fr pigeon (someone punished for the errors of others) · et peksupoiss (someone punished for the errors of others) · he נער מלקות (someone punished for the errors of others) · nl zondebok (someone punished for the errors of others) · da piske dreng (someone punished for the errors of others) · es niño de los azotes (someone punished for the errors of others) · tr şamaroğlanı (someone punished for the errors of others) · fi syntipukki (someone punished for the errors of others) · ru крайний (someone punished for the errors of others) · cmn 替罪羊 (someone punished for the errors of others) · ru ма́льчик для битья́ (someone punished for the errors of others) · de Prügeljunge (someone punished for the errors of others) · de Prügelknabe (someone punished for the errors of others) · hu bűnbak (someone punished for the errors of others) · it capro espiatorio (someone punished for the errors of others) · ru стре́лочник (someone punished for the errors of others)