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Botany Bay dozen

noun

Definitions

  1. 25 lashes, i.e. strokes of a whip across a person's back as a punishment.

    • If guilty, he is taken to a cart-wheel to receive a Botany Bay dozen, which is twenty-five lashes ;[…].
    • “Will they be strung up for a Botany Bay dozen like we are if we so much as squeak? Not those fine gentlemen, with their uniforms an' their pockets full o' gold!”
    • He gave a harsh snort and said angrily, “A Botany Bay dozen is not twelve. It's twenty-five, and more than capable of exposing a man's backbone.”

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sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA