whipping boy

whip·ping boy

W w

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [hwip-ing, wip- boi]
- /ˈʰwɪp ɪŋ, ˈwɪp- bɔɪ/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [hwip-ing, wip- boi]
- /ˈʰwɪp ɪŋ, ˈwɪp- bɔɪ/

Definitions of whipping boy words

noun whipping boy a person who is made to bear the blame for another's mistake; scapegoat. 1
noun whipping boy (formerly) a boy educated along with and taking punishment in place of a young prince or nobleman. 1
noun whipping boy scapegoat 1
countable noun whipping boy If someone or something is a whipping boy for a particular situation, they get all the blame for it. 0
noun whipping boy a person of little importance who is blamed for the errors, incompetence, etc, of others, esp his superiors; scapegoat 0
noun whipping boy a boy brought up together with a young prince and required to take the punishment for the latter's misdeeds 0

See all 8 definitions of whipping boy

Information block about the term

Origin of whipping boy

First appearance:

before 1640

One of the 44% oldest English words

First recorded in 1640-50

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Whipping boy

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Whipping boy

whipping boy popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 34% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

According to our data about 72% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

whipping boy usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for whipping boy

noun whipping boy

fall guy — an easy victim.

Just one Synonym for whipping boy