whiplash

whip +‎ lash

whiplash (plural whiplashes)

1. the lash of a whip
2. an injury to the upper spine caused by a violent jerk of the head in either a backward or forward or side to side direction, resembling the motion of a whip

• whiplash injury (2)

whiplash (third-person singular simple present whiplashes, present participle whiplashing, simple past and past participle whiplashed)

1. To jerk back and forth; to buffet
   • 2008, December 23, “Nicholas Confessore”, in Resistance to Kennedy Grows among Democrats‎:

     […] Ms. Kennedy has been whiplashed by assertions that she is at once protected and presumptuous.

2. To lash as if with a whip
   • 1990, V.C. Andrews, My Sweet Audrina‎, →ISBN, page 98:

     After a while, he let go of my hand in order to protect his own face from being whiplashed by the low branches.