A pandy is a stroke or blow on the palm of the hand as corporal punishment. The tool used to deliver that blow is the pandybat, consisting of a thick leather strap, rattan cane, or wood paddle. In James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the prefect [person in command] of studies is in charge of academic issues: The door opened quietly and closed. A quick whisper ran through the class: the prefect of studies. There was an instant of dead silence and then the loud crack of a pandybat on the last desk. Stephen's heart leapt up in fear. — Any boys want flogging here, Father Arnall? cried the prefect of studies. Any lazy idle loafers that want flogging in this class?