flogging

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
flog/flɒɡ/

▶verb (flogs, flogging, flogged)

• 1 beat with a whip or stick as a punishment.

• 2 informal work at or promote repetitively or at excessive length.

• 3 Brit. informal sell or offer for sale.

• 4 Brit. informal make one's way with strenuous effort.

– phrases
flog a dead horse Brit. waste energy on a lost cause or unalterable situation.

– derivatives
flogger noun.

– origin C17 (orig. sl.): perh. imitative, or from L. flagellare ‘to whip’.