fustigate

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The Word of the Day for September 23 is:

fustigate   \FUSS-tuh-gayt\   verb
     1 : to beat with or as if with a short heavy club 
    *2 : to criticize severely

Example sentence:
     The incumbent senator has been fustigated by his opponent 
for twice voting to raise taxes.

Did you know?
     Though it won't leave a bump on your head, severe criticism 
can be a blow to your self-esteem. It's no wonder 
that "fustigate," when it first appeared in the 17th century, 
originally meant "to cudgel or beat with a short heavy stick," a 
sense that reflects the word's derivation from the Latin 
noun "fustis," which means "club" or "staff." The "criticize" 
sense is more common these days, but the violent use 
of "fustigate" was a hit with earlier writers like George 
Huddesford, who in 1801 told of an angry Jove who "cudgell'd all 
the constellations, ... / Swore he'd eject the man i' the 
moon ... / And fustigate him round his orbit."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.