be a whipping boy

Later her friends would come in for a drink, which I must mix for them, hating my task, shy and ill-at-ease in my corner hemmed in by their parrot chatter, and I would be a whipping boy again, blushing for her when, excited by her little crowd, she must sit up in bed and talk too loudly, laugh too long, reach to the portable gramophone and start a record, shrugging her large shoulders to the tune.

"Selection is something we need to look at but not rush it, it's about not putting too much pressure on the coach. "The new coach will be given the opportunity to do his job - he won't be a whipping boy for me.

"They're a bit of a poster boy, but they could be a whipping boy if they're not careful."

"They're a bit of a poster boy, but they could be a whipping boy if they're not careful."

It does bother us that the church continues to be a whipping boy.”