/fleɪl/, /fɹeɪl/
OriginFrom 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”).
- 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.
“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!”
- A weapon which has the (usually spherical) striking part attached to the handle with a flexible joint such as a chain.
- often, pluralPart of a rotating device, often used for cutting vegetation.
“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.”
- transitiveTo beat using a flail or similar implement.
- transitiveTo wave or swing vigorously
“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.”
- transitiveTo thresh.
- intransitiveTo move like a flail.
“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[.]”
Formsflails(plural) · flails(present, singular, third-person) · flailing(participle, present) · flailed(participle, past) · flailed(past)
Source: Wiktionary