flail : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: flail	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for flail
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
flail n an implement consisting of handle with a free swinging stick at the end; used in manual threshing v give a thrashing to; beat hard [syn: thrash, thresh, lam, flail] move like a flail; thresh about; "Her arms were flailing" Synonym(s): flail, thresh
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Flail \Flail\, n. [L. flagellum whip, scourge, in LL., a threshing flail: cf. OF. flael, flaiel, F. fl[82]au. See {Flagellum}.] 1. An instrument for threshing or beating grain from the ear by hand, consisting of a wooden staff or handle, at the end of which a stouter and shorter pole or club, called a swipe, is so hung as to swing freely. His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn. --Milton. 2. An ancient military weapon, like the common flail, often having the striking part armed with rows of spikes, or loaded. --Fairholt. No citizen thought himself safe unless he carried under his coat a small flail, loaded with lead, to brain the Popish assassins. --Macaulay.