Brewer's: Whipping Boy

A boy kept to be whipped when a prince deserved chastisement. Mungo Murray stood for Charles I., Barnaby Fitzpatrick for Edward VI. (Fuller: Church History, ii. 342.) D'Ossat and Du Perron, afterwards cardinals, were whipped by Clement VIII. for Henri IV. of France. Also called a whip-boy.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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