Word.ws English Dictionary

flog a dead horse

flog a dead horse verb: to attempt to get more out of something that cannot give more; to attempt to arouse fresh interest in something that is either hopeless or already settled.

Verb

flog a dead horse (third-person singular simple present flogs a dead horse, present participle flogging a dead horse, simple past and past participle flogged a dead horse)

  1. (UK, idiomatic) To attempt to get more out of something that cannot give more; to attempt to arouse fresh interest in something that is either hopeless or already settled.
  2. (dated) To attempt to get extra work out of a ship's crew during the dead horse period.

flog a dead horse meaning in Malay

flog a dead horse in Malay

to attempt to get more out of something that cannot give more
mencari jejak dalam air

Synonyms of flog a dead horse

Forms of flog a dead horse

third-person singular presentflogs a dead horse
present participleflogging a dead horse
past participleflogged a dead horse
pastflogged a dead horse
alternative formbeat a dead horse
alternative formflog a dead pony

Questions about flog a dead horse

What does flog a dead horse mean?
Flog a dead horse means to attempt to get more out of something that cannot give more; to attempt to arouse fresh interest in something that is either hopeless or already settled.
What is flog a dead horse in Malay?
Flog a dead horse in Malay is mencari jejak dalam air. See Flog a dead horse meaning in Malay.
What part of speech is flog a dead horse?
Flog a dead horse is a verb.
What is the past tense of flog a dead horse?
The past tense of flog a dead horse is flogged a dead horse.

Words near flog a dead horse in the dictionary

  1. Floer homology
  2. Floersch
  3. Floersches
  4. floes
  5. flog
  6. flog a dead horse
  7. flog a dead pony
  8. flog someone round the fleet
  9. flog the bishop
  10. flog the clock
  11. flog the dolphin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: flog a dead horse (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-flog a dead horse.ogg.

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