punching bag

English

WOTD – 2 June 2021

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpʌnt͡ʃɪŋ ˌbæɡ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpʌnt͡ʃɪŋ ˌbæɡ/, [ˈpən(t)ʃɪŋ-]
• Hyphenation: punch‧ing bag

Noun

punching bag (plural punching bags) (chiefly US)

1. A tough bag, usually cylindrical, filled with air, sand, or other material, often suspended so that it swings freely, which is punched or kicked when practising sports such as boxing or martial arts.

   Synonym: (Britain) punchbag

   Hyponym: speed bag

   Coordinate terms: focus bag, speed ball, swerve ball

2. (figuratively) A person serving as an object of abuse.

   Synonym: (Britain) punchbag

   • 2019 April 14, Alex McLevy, “Winter is Here on Game of Thrones’ Final Season Premiere (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 18 December 2020:

     For so long, Theon Greyjoy was the punching bag of Game of Thrones, a sort of shitty Charlie Brown who not only failed to kick the football, but would then be beaten savagely with it every time he landed on his ass.

Translations

tough bag punched or kicked when practising sports such as boxing or martial arts

Arabic: كيس ملاكمة (kis mulakima) Armenian: տանձիկ (hy) (tanjik) Basque: boxeo zakua Belarusian: баксёрская груша f (baksjórskaja hruša) Bulgarian: боксов чувал (boksov čuval) Catalan: sac de boxa m Chinese: Cantonese: 沙包 (saa1 baau1) Mandarin: 吊袋 (diàodài), 拳擊沙袋 / 拳击沙袋 (quánjī shādài), 沙包 (zh) (shābāo) Czech: boxovací pytel Danish: boksesæk n Dutch: bokszak (nl) m Finnish: nyrkkeilysäkki (fi) French: punching-ball (fr) m, sac de boxe m, sac de frappe (fr) m Georgian: გრუშა (gruša) German: Boxsack (de) m, Sandsack (de) m Greek: σάκος πυγμαχίας m (sákos pygmachías) Ancient: κώρυκος m (kṓrukos) Hebrew: שַׂק חֲבָטוֹת (he) m (saq ḥavatót), שַׂק אִגְרוּף m (saq igrúf) Hungarian: bokszzsák Indonesian: samsak (id) Italian: sacco da boxe m Japanese: サンドバッグ (ja) (sandobaggu) Korean: 샌드백 (saendeubaek) Latin: cōrycus m Norwegian: boksesekk Pashto: سوک وهونکی (sook wahowneke) Persian: کیسه بوکس (kes buks) Polish: worek do bicia m, worek treningowy m Portuguese: saco de boxe m, saco de pancada (pt) m Romanian: sac de box m Russian: боксёрская гру́ша f (boksjórskaja grúša), боксёрский мешо́к m (boksjórskij mešók) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: боксерски џак, боксерски врећа f, врећа за ударање f Roman: bokserski džak, bokserski vreća f, vreća za udaranje f Slovak: boxovacie vrece f Slovene: boks vreča f Spanish: saco de boxeo m Swedish: boxningssäck c, sandsäck (sv) c Turkish: boks torbası, kum torbası (tr) Ukrainian: боксерська груша f (boksersʹka hruša) Urdu: چھدرن بیگ (chidrin beyk)

person serving as an object of abuse

Catalan: sac de boxa m Chinese: Cantonese: 出氣筒 / 出气筒 (ceot1 hei3 tung2), 沙包 (saa1 baau1) Mandarin: 出氣筒 / 出气筒 (zh) (chūqìtǒng), 小媳婦 / 小媳妇 (zh) (xiǎoxífù, xiǎoxífer) Finnish: heittopussi French: souffre-douleur (fr) m or f, tête de turc f Indonesian: samsak (id) Polish: chłopiec do bicia m Portuguese: saco de pancada (pt) m Russian: гру́ша (ru) f (grúša), ма́льчик для битья́ (ru) m (málʹčik dlja bitʹjá) (whipping boy) Spanish: saco de boxeo m Swedish: slagpåse (sv) c

Further reading

• punching bag on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “punching bag, n.” under “punching, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2020.
• “punching bag, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.