FLAIL


Meaning of FLAIL in English

I. ˈflāl noun

Etymology: Middle English fleil, flail, partly from Old English * flegel (whence Old English fligel ), from Late Latin flagellum flail, from Latin, whip & partly from Anglo-French flael, from Late Latin flagellum — more at 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.

a. : to strike with or as if with a flail

arms flail ing the water

b. : to move, swing, or beat as if wielding a flail

flail ing a club to drive away the insects

2. : to thresh (grain) with a flail

intransitive verb

: to move, swing, or beat like a flail

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate English vocabulary.      Энциклопедический словарь английского языка Merriam Webster.