Flail
11flail — /flayl/, n. 1. an instrument for threshing grain, consisting of a staff or handle to one end of which is attached a freely swinging stick or bar. 2. a similar instrument used as a weapon of war. v.t., v.i. 3. to beat or swing with or as if with a …
12flail — flail1 [fleıl] v 1.) [I and T] to wave your arms or legs in an uncontrolled way ▪ He flailed wildly as she tried to hold him down. flail around/about ▪ James flailed about in the shallow water. 2.) [T] to beat someone or something violently,… …
13flail — I UK [fleɪl] / US verb Word forms flail : present tense I/you/we/they flail he/she/it flails present participle flailing past tense flailed past participle flailed 1) [intransitive/transitive] to move your arms and legs about in an uncontrolled… …
14flail — /fleɪl / (say flayl) noun 1. an instrument for threshing grain by hand, consisting of a staff or handle to one end of which is attached a freely swinging stick or bar. 2. Military an implement derived from the threshing flail and consisting of a… …
15flail — Synonyms and related words: bang, baste, bastinado, batter, beat, belabor, belt, birch, buffet, cane, club, cowhide, cudgel, cut, cut and thrust, drub, feint, flagellate, flail at, flail away at, flap, flog, fustigate, give a whipping, give the… …
16flail — flail1 [ fleıl ] verb 1. ) intransitive or transitive to move your arms and legs about in an uncontrolled way 2. ) transitive to hit someone many times with something such as a stick 3. ) intransitive or transitive to hit grain with a special… …
17flail — [OE] Flail is a distant relative of flagellation [15]. Both go back ultimately to Latin flagrum ‘whip’. This had a diminutive form flagellum, which in prehistoric times was borrowed into West Germanic as *flagil . It is assumed that Old English… …
18Flail — a jointed weapon consisting of a spiked, flanged or knobbed steel bludgeon joined by a chain to a short wood or steel haft. Use of the large two handed flail continued to be taught in fight schools into the 17th century. It was derived from the… …
19flail — [OE] Flail is a distant relative of flagellation [15]. Both go back ultimately to Latin flagrum ‘whip’. This had a diminutive form flagellum, which in prehistoric times was borrowed into West Germanic as *flagil . It is assumed that Old English… …
20flail — I noun an implement consisting of handle with a free swinging stick at the end; used in manual threshing (Freq. 1) • Hypernyms: ↑implement II verb 1. give a thrashing to; beat hard (Freq. 1) • Syn: ↑ …
