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Fine Dictionary

flail

fleɪl
WordNet
A trophy with agricultural objects such as a scythe, flail, sickle, basket and fruit. Surrounded by a frame of flowers, fruits and vines.
A trophy with agricultural objects such as a scythe, flail, sickle, basket and fruit. Surrounded by a frame of flowers, fruits and vines.
  1. (v) flail
    give a thrashing to; beat hard
  2. (v) flail
    move like a flail; thresh about "Her arms were flailing"
  3. (n) flail
    an implement consisting of handle with a free swinging stick at the end; used in manual threshing
Illustrations
Six trophies with agricultural attributes such as a flail, a scythe, a sickle, vegetable, a shepherd's staff, a bagpipe, a bird cage, a churn, a fork, a barrel, a barrel with vines and a thyrsus.
Six trophies with agricultural attributes such as a flail, a scythe, a sickle, vegetable, a shepherd's staff, a bagpipe, a bird cage, a churn, a fork, a barrel, a barrel with vines and a thyrsus.
A trophy with agricultural objects such as a scythe, a flail, ears of corn, fruit, a shovel and a bag.
A trophy with agricultural objects such as a scythe, a flail, ears of corn, fruit, a shovel and a bag.
A man flailing with a pipe in his mouth and a woman sitting next to a basket with a bottle.
A man flailing with a pipe in his mouth and a woman sitting next to a basket with a bottle.
Possibly a flail in his other hand. Page 36 from a 42-leaf sketchbook made around the Ewijkshoeve.
Possibly a flail in his other hand. Page 36 from a 42-leaf sketchbook made around the Ewijkshoeve.
An emblem with two representations. Above, a hand in the clouds holds a flail. With a star. Underneath a yoke with bound ropes under a rain cloud.
An emblem with two representations. Above, a hand in the clouds holds a flail. With a star. Underneath a yoke with bound ropes under a rain cloud.
On the left, Gideon is standing with a flail in his hand near the grain. He is looking at the angel of God sitting under a tree. The angel asks him in the name of God to deliver Israel. In the background, the angel is lighting fire from a rock, burning the food to prove that God is actually asking him a favor. Behind this scene you can see the angel flying away. In the margin a one-line caption in Latin.
On the left, Gideon is standing with a flail in his hand near the grain. He is looking at the angel of God sitting under a tree. The angel asks him in the name of God to deliver Israel. In the background, the angel is lighting fire from a rock, burning the food to prove that God is actually asking him a favor. Behind this scene you can see the angel flying away. In the margin a one-line caption in Latin.
Ubbo, third prince of the Frisians. Standing full length, flail in hand. Cologne in the background. In an ornamental frame. Illustration, with text on the back, from the book: Frisia seu de viris rebusque Frisiae illustribus libri duo.
Ubbo, third prince of the Frisians. Standing full length, flail in hand. Cologne in the background. In an ornamental frame. Illustration, with text on the back, from the book: Frisia seu de viris rebusque Frisiae illustribus libri duo.
He has a scythe and a machete or flail. In the background a peasant woman with a bunch of grain or hay. Page 26 from a 42-leaf sketchbook made around the Ewijkshoeve.
He has a scythe and a machete or flail. In the background a peasant woman with a bunch of grain or hay. Page 26 from a 42-leaf sketchbook made around the Ewijkshoeve.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
  1. Flail
    An ancient military weapon, like the common flail, often having the striking part armed with rows of spikes, or loaded. "No citizen thought himself safe unless he carried under his coat a small flail , loaded with lead, to brain the Popish assassins."
  2. Flail
    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."
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
  1. (n) flail
    An instrument for threshing or beating grain from the ear, consisting of the hand-staff, which is held in the hand, the swingle or swiple, which strikes the grain, and the middle band, which connects the hand-staff and swingle, and may be a thong of leather or a rope of hemp or straw.
  2. (n) flail
    Milit., a similar implement used as a weapon of war in the middle ages. In this weapon the swingle or swiple was sometimes a ball set with long spikes, and sometimes a pear-shaped or still more elongated body spiked in like manner (in these forms called morning-star: see cut under morning-star); the middle band was a chain; and the hand-staff was of metal in the smaller single-handed flails, or of wood with long tangs and ferrules of metal in the larger forms.
  3. flail
    To whip; scourge.
  4. flail
    To strike with or as if with a flail; thresh.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
  1. (n) Flail
    flāl an implement for threshing corn, consisting of a wooden bar (the swingle) hinged or tied to a handle: a medieval weapon with spiked iron swingle
  2. (v.t) Flail
    to strike with, or as if with, a flail
Quotations
Eric Hoffer
Action is at bottom a swinging and flailing of the arms to regain one's balance and keep afloat.
Eric Hoffer
Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary L. flagellum, whip, scourge, in LL., a threshing flail: cf. OF. flael, flaiel, F. fléau,. See Flagellum

Usage in the news

Apparent support is in sharp contrast to recent months, when the Islamist group seemed to be flailing and riven by division. usatoday.com

A " crazed " homeless man who has been living among the Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York City's Zuccotti Park went on a violent rampage Thursday, flailing, kicking tents, and yelling incoherently, according to a published report. cbsnews.com

It's bad enough you're a 160 pound pussy biker, but now you're flailing around like a bigger pussy crying because you lost. q103albany.com

Flailing Honduras in yet another political crisis . cortezjournal.com

Is Mexico's youth opposition stuck with a flailing leader. csmonitor.com

Government lawyers failed to learn that industries undergoing massive change brought on by technology are likelier to be flailing for sustainable business models than flouting market power to fix prices. online.wsj.com

The film is rated PG-13 for some sexual situations and for being a flailing excuse for anything. motherjones.com

Newt's Flailing (Don't Tell Callista Gingrich's Favorite Hairspray Maker). businessweek.com

West Virginia's football team found unique new ways to recharge a flailing offense Saturday night. vgazette.com

Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm?-Flailing Tube Man. 1007mixfm.com

Say it three times really fast: wacky wavy inflatable arm flailing tube man. newstalk870.am

As malaise spreads, Hollande flails: 'I'll tax more and spend more'. chicagotribune.com

With his campaign flailing, Romney throws in the kitchen sink . motherjones.com

Oliver Perez decided to stay with the team that helped resurrect his flailing career. kitsapsun.com

Flail mower demonstration Oct 10 at CooperRiis. tryondailybulletin.com

Usage in literature

He flailed his arm twice, and felt his fist strike against soft flesh. "Fire Mountain" by Norman Springer

Out came that cross of his, four foot and a half long, with a thong as heavy as a flail. "The Landleaguers" by Anthony Trollope

The ship stops, and to the perpetual flailing of the paddles succeeds the hissing sound of the escaping steam. "Records of Later Life" by Frances Ann Kemble

I will neither be blown away by the wind nor burst with the flail, but will abide both. "Ringan Gilhaize" by John Galt

Talbott gagged and flailed helplessly. "Before Egypt" by E. K. Jarvis

The next instant he had plunged into the tons of snow and his arms were working like flails as he threw the masses aside. "The Rushton Boys at Rally Hall" by Spencer Davenport

Seed is easily separated by a common flail. "Soil Culture" by J. H. Walden

He nodded, then turned and swam away, flippers flailing as though trying to hurry. "The Wailing Octopus" by Harold Leland Goodwin

He lost balance and his arms flailed to regain his footing, too late! "The Blue Ghost Mystery" by Harold Leland Goodwin

The man flew backward, arms flailing, and landed on top of one who was grappling with Hassan. "The Egyptian Cat Mystery" by Harold Leland Goodwin

Usage in poetry
"And further on the wind's low wail
Proclaims my reign along the dale,
Till the tired harvester drops his flail
And hails me queen of the flowers."
"The Golden Rod" by Samuel Alfred Beadle
No flail beats time on granary floor,
The windmill's rushing wings are stayed,
And children's glee rings out no more
From hedgerow bank or primrose glade.
"The Door Of Humility" by Alfred Austin Author object (26)
Well, enough of slump, enough of Old Story.
Like a clean spear of fire I am moving.
I am not still. I am ready to be ready.
I shall flail in the Hot Time.
"The Near-Johannesburg Boy" by Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks
`And when Autumn's flail on the granary floor
Falls muffled by mellow sheaves,
Old elm, you will mirror yourself no more
In the lake of your littered leaves.'
"The Fallen Elm" by Alfred Austin Author object (26)
Stitch them, Sails; aye, sew them tight
For the mad squall blowing in the maniac night;
Sew them to stand the beat of hail,
The lash of rain and the hurricane's flail.
"Sailmaker" by Bill Adams
On him alone was the doom of pain,
From the morning of his birth;
On him alone the curse of Cain
Fell, like a flail on the garnered grain,
And struck him to the earth!
"The Slave In The Dismal Swamp" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Author object (294)