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View synonyms for punching bag

punching bag

noun

  1. an inflated or stuffed bag, usually suspended, punched with the fists as an exercise.
  2. Informal. a person serving as an object of abuse; scapegoat:

    I told him that I wasn't going to be a punching bag for anyone.



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Word History and Origins

Origin of punching bag1

First recorded in 1895–1900

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Example Sentences

For instance, he points out, Charlemagne treated Saxony like his own personal punching bag.

He has become something of a critical punching bag of late, a thought that seemed impossible for most of his career.

Kardashian's most famous gig was as Paris Hilton's own closet organizer/punching bag/silent friend.

A punching bag as treasury secretary, Geithner finally gets to unload in ‘Stress Test.’

Walmart is clearly growing tired of being a punching bag and poster child for low wages.

You know my little two-room affair behind the chapel,—only a few books and a punching bag.

They were shoving some one here and there, making a punching bag of him, at the same time laughing uproariously.

Weighing about one hundred and thirty pounds my work upon the human punching bag was beginning to tell.

The punching-bag and other purely masculine paraphernalia had been banished to his own room, and the living-room, alas!

I made it into a tight bundle and hung it on a springy limb to use for a punching-bag.

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