Word.ws English Dictionary

flogged a dead horse

flogged a dead horse is the simple past and past participle of flog a dead horse.

Meaning of flog a dead horse

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.

Questions about flogged a dead horse

What is flogged a dead horse the simple past and past participle of?
Flogged a dead horse is the simple past and past participle of flog a dead horse.

Words near flogged a dead horse in the dictionary

  1. flog the log
  2. flog-bottomist
  3. flog-bottomists
  4. floggable
  5. flogged
  6. flogged a dead horse
  7. flogged a dead pony
  8. flogged someone round the fleet
  9. flogged the bishop
  10. flogged the clock
  11. flogged the dolphin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: flogged a dead horse (page history and authors); 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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