Word.ws English Dictionary

flog a dead pony

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

  1. (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.
    • […] much greater impact on actual practice when the topic wasn't flogging a dead pony (advocating a change already wide-spread) […]1994 August 17, Lois-ellin Datta, A Matter of Consensus (Working Paper), Washington: US Dept. of Education, →OCLC, ERIC ED379290, page 15
    • Now was not the time to lose her temper. He was baiting her, and going over the Brazil incident was like flogging a dead pony. She was tired and the pony was past caring.2005, Sharron McClellan, The Midas Trap, New York: Silhouette Bombshell, →ISBN, page 23

Synonyms of flog a dead pony

Forms of flog a dead pony

third-person singular presentflogs a dead pony
present participleflogging a dead pony
past participleflogged a dead pony
pastflogged a dead pony

Questions about flog a dead pony

What does flog a dead pony mean?
Flog a dead pony 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 part of speech is flog a dead pony?
Flog a dead pony is a verb.
What is the past tense of flog a dead pony?
The past tense of flog a dead pony is flogged a dead pony.

Words near flog a dead pony in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: flog a dead pony (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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