Floating academy, the hulks.
Flog, to whip. Cited both by Grose and the author of Bacchus and Venus as a cant word. Many efforts have been made to ascertain the earliest use; Richardson cites Lord Chesterfield. From Flagellum. “Flawged,” for whipped, occurs in “The Presbyterian Lash, or Nockhoff’s Maid Whipt,” published in 1663. Nockhoff was the anagram for the name of the Rev. Zachary Crofton, who had scandalized the town by subjecting his servant-maid to the discipline of the nursery. There is a good story on the proper orthography of the convertible term for castigation related in a newspaper of 1841. A county magistrate, who had sentenced a boy to be birched, wrote in his warrant that the boy was to be “floged.” The scrupulous gaoler hesitated to inflict the punishment, and sent back the warrant to the justice for amendment, who thereupon drew his pen through “floged,” and ordered the boy to be “wiped.”
Flogger, a whip.—Almost obsolete. Flogger is still the term applied to a number of strips of cloth attached to a handle, and used in theatrical painting rooms to beat off the dust of the charcoal used in sketching a scene.
Flogster, one addicted to flogging. William IV., who was accused of unduly and excessively punishing the sailors whom he commanded when in the navy, was nicknamed in the newspapers “Prince William Henry Flogster.”
Floor, to knock down.—Pugilistic.
Floored, when a picture is hung on the lowest row at the Exhibition of the Royal Academy, it is, in artistic slang, said to be FLOORED, in contradistinction to “[skyed],” which see.
Floorer, a blow sufficiently strong to knock a man down, or bring him to the floor. Often used in reference to sudden and unpleasant news.
Flop, to plump; “to go FLOP down,” to fall suddenly, with violence and noise.
Flowery, lodging, or house entertainment; “square the omee for the FLOWERY,” pay the master for the lodging.—Lingua Franca.