To flog the dead horse, verb. phr. (common).—1. To work up an interest in a bygone subject; to try against heart; to do with no will nor liking for the job. [Bright said that Earl Russell’s Reform Bill was a dead horse (q.v.), and every attempt to create enthusiasm in its favour was flogging the dead horse.] 2. (nautical).—To work off an advance of wages. To flog a willing horse, verb. phr. (common).—To urge on one who is already putting forth his best energies. Flogger, subs. (old).—1. A whip; cf., Flog. Grose gives the word as Cant. Fr., un bouis. 1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 173, s.v. 2. (theatrical).—A mop (i.e., a bunch of slips of cloth on a handle) used in the painting room to whisk the charcoal dust from a sketch. Flogging, ppl. adj. (old).—Careful; penurious. Flogging-cove, subs. phr. (prison)—1. An official who administers the cat (q.v.). 1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Flogging cove, c. the Beadle, or Whipper in Bridewell, or any such place. 1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Flogging-cove, the beadle, or whipper, in Bridewell. 2. See Flogging Cully. Flogging Cully, subs. phr. (venery).—A man addicted, whether from necessity or choice, to flagellation; a whipster (q.v.). 1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Flogging, c. a Naked Woman’s whipping (with rods) an Old (usually) and (sometimes) a young Lecher. Flogging Stake, subs. phr. (old).—A whipping post. 1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v. 1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Flogster, subs. (old).—One addicted to flogging. Specifically (naval), a nickname applied to the Duke of Clarence (afterwards William IV). Floor, verb. (colloquial).—1. To knock down. Hence to vanquish in argument; to make an end of; to defeat; to confound. See Floored and Dead-beat. 1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Floor the pig, knock down the officer. 1821. Haggart, Life, p. 15. That moment the farmer let fly at the drover, which floored him. 1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. xxi. ‘When I saw him so floored as not to be able to come to time, I knew there had been some hard hitting going on thereabouts, so I kept clear.’ 1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, p. 10. Then (apostrophising ‘Maga’) floor me not. Ibid., p. 60, The Corinthian, being no novice in these matters, floored two or three in a twinkling. 1835. Coleridge, Table Talk (published posthumously). The other day I was what you may called floored by a Jew. 1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 425 (Ed. 1857). Even Mr. Bob Sawyer ... was floored. 1862. Mrs. H. Wood, The Channings, ch. v. ‘So if the master is directing his suspicions to the seniors, he’ll get floored.’