flail
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English flayle, from earlier fleil, fleyl, fleȝȝl, from Old English fligel, *flegel (“flail”), from Proto-West Germanic *flagil, of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots flail (“a thresher's flail”), West Frisian fleil, flaaiel (“flail”), Dutch vlegel (“flail”), German Flegel (“flail”). Possibly a native Germanic word from Proto-Germanic *flagilaz (“whip”), from Proto-Germanic *flag-, *flah- (“to whip, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂k- (“to beat, hit, strike; weep”); compare Old Norse flaga (“sudden attack, bout”), Lithuanian plàkti (“to whip, lash, flog”), Ancient Greek πληγνύναι (plēgnúnai, “strike, hit, encounter”), Latin plangō (“lament”, i.e. “beat one's breast”) + Proto-Germanic *-ilaz (instrumental suffix). If so, related also to English flag, flack, flacker.
Alternatively, Proto-West Germanic *flagil may be an early borrowing of Latin flagellum (“winnowing tool, thresher”), diminutive of flagrum (“scourge, whip”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlag-, *bʰlaǵ- (“to beat”); compare Old Norse blekkja (“to beat, mistreat”). Compare also Old French flael (“flail”), Walloon flayea (“flail”) (locally pronounced "flai"), Italian flagello (“scourge, whip, plague”).
Inflected forms:
form: flails
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: flails
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: flailing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: flailed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: flailed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A tool used for threshing, consisting of a long handle (handstock) with a shorter stick (swipple or swingle) attached with a short piece of chain, thong or similar material.
pos: noun
examples: When in one night, ere glimpse of morn,
His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn
That ten day-labourers could not end;
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail
On him alone the curse of Cain
Fell, like a flail on the garnered grain,
And struck him to the earth!
If the farmer must use the spade because he has not capital enough for a plough, the sickle instead of the reaping machine, the flail instead of the thresher...
gloss: A weapon which has the (usually spherical) striking part attached to the handle with a flexible joint such as a chain.
pos: noun
gloss: Part of a rotating device, often used for cutting vegetation.
pos: noun
tags: often
plural
examples: The carriage washing plant uses four pairs of rotating rag flails and will be capable of dealing with the whole of the diesel units as well as steam stock used for main-line trains.
gloss: To beat using a flail or similar implement.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To wave or swing vigorously
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Tangling with Ziv, Cameron caught him with a flailing elbow, causing the Israeli defender to go down a little easily. However, the referee was in no doubt, much to the displeasure of the home fans.
He stopped in his tracks – then, flailing his arms wildly in the air, began to stagger backwards.
gloss: To thresh.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To move like a flail.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: He was flailing wildly, but didn't land a blow.
Undismayed he continued to flail with the broken half of it, denting many a helmet[.]
Related words: flounder
Derived words: flail chest
flaillike
flailsome
flail tank
flaily
mine flail
flail about
unflailed
Translations: