Belting (beating)

In other cases, especially in an institutional context, a separate belt is kept (e.g. in the head's office) solely for disciplinary use, and possibly displayed, again as a warning.

The term is also used figuratively for any beating in general, regardless of the implement (e.g. in Scotland, the tawse, a forked type of strap, was frequently called the belt) or even absence thereof, also in the figurative sense, such as a defeat or other unpleasant, painful and/or humiliating (e.g. verbal) treatment, or even an impersonal misfortune that feels strongly painful, such as a financial loss.

In Russia and other countries of the former USSR, belting has been a standard form of domestic corporal punishment of children.

Some nervous parent could hit his or her child in the other parts of body, such as the bare genitals, but it has not been regarded as proper punishment and has been condemned by public opinion.

Today, the usage of corporal punishment of children in Russia, while still not effectively prohibited, is gradually declining just as it has in the Western world.