FLAIL

I. noun see: flagellate Date: before 12th century a hand threshing implement consisting of a wooden handle at the end of which a stouter and shorter stick is so hung as to swing freely, II. verb Date: 15th century transitive verb 1. to strike with or as if with a ~ , to move, swing, or beat as if wielding a ~ , to thresh (grain) with a ~, intransitive verb to move, swing, or beat like a ~