Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To whip or flog; scourge.
  • transitive verb To reproach or punish severely.
  • adjective Having a flagellum or flagella.
  • adjective Resembling or having the form of a flagellum; whiplike.
  • adjective Relating to or caused by a flagellate organism.
  • noun An organism, such as a euglena, that has one or more flagella.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To whip; scourge.
  • noun An obsolete perversion of flageolet.
  • In biol, furnished with flagella, or slender whip-like processes; flagelliferous: as, a flagellate infusorian (in this use technically opposed to ciliate).
  • Like a whip-lash; flagelliform: as, a flagellate process.
  • In botany, producing filiform runners or runner-like branches.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To whip; to scourge; to flog.
  • adjective Flagelliform.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the Flagellata.
  • adjective Having a flagellum or flagella.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To whip or scourge.
  • adjective Resembling a whip.
  • adjective biology Having flagella.
  • noun biology Any organism that has flagella.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb whip
  • noun a usually nonphotosynthetic free-living protozoan with whiplike appendages; some are pathogens of humans and other animals
  • adjective having or resembling a lash or whip (as does a flagellum)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin flagellāre, flagellāt-, to whip, from flagellum, diminutive of flagrum, whip.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin flagellum ("whip")

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Examples

  • Conservatives gleefully seized upon this to once again flagellate academia for its liberal bias.

    December 2004 2004

  • As in many other lower animals, the cells have only one whip-like hair each, and so are called flagellate (whip) cells (in contrast with the ciliated cells, which have a number of short lashes or cilia).

    The Evolution of Man — Volume 2 Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel 1876

  • Today, he sees the "moral hazard rescue" for what it is, and now chooses to "flagellate" himself and "wear a dunce's hat."

    The Daily Reckoning 2010

  • He also said the industry should not "flagellate" itself over stats that show other countries 'research investments.

    Multichannel News: Business News 2009

  • The occasion of the final home game was marked by many as the time to move forward and the beginning of the healing process since the university has now had more than a week to flagellate itself.

    Christopher Brauchli: The Coach, the Pope and the Children Christopher Brauchli 2011

  • It was because they seemed small and insignificant compared to Hitchens, that they took the opportunity to flagellate themselves through his very apotheosis.

    Adam Hanft: The Hitchens Outpouring and Journalistic Self-Hatred Adam Hanft 2011

  • The occasion of the final home game was marked by many as the time to move forward and the beginning of the healing process since the university has now had more than a week to flagellate itself.

    Christopher Brauchli: The Coach, the Pope and the Children Christopher Brauchli 2011

  • It was because they seemed small and insignificant compared to Hitchens, that they took the opportunity to flagellate themselves through his very apotheosis.

    Adam Hanft: The Hitchens Outpouring and Journalistic Self-Hatred Adam Hanft 2011

  • The occasion of the final home game was marked by many as the time to move forward and the beginning of the healing process since the university has now had more than a week to flagellate itself.

    Christopher Brauchli: The Coach, the Pope and the Children Christopher Brauchli 2011

  • The occasion of the final home game was marked by many as the time to move forward and the beginning of the healing process since the university has now had more than a week to flagellate itself.

    Christopher Brauchli: The Coach, the Pope and the Children Christopher Brauchli 2011

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