A similarly constructed leather nine-tail whip, as used in British penal colonies and certain armies.
A scourge (multi-tail whip) having nine, often knotted, whipcords, formerly used for flogging as naval punishment.
A leather scourge (multi-tail whip), in the severe version known as 'great knout' with metal weights on each tongue, notoriously used in imperial Russia.
To flog or beat with a knout.