flail

[fleyl]

noun

1. an instrument for threshing grain, consisting of a staff or handle with a freely swinging stick or bar attached to one end of it.

2. a similar instrument used as a weapon of war.

verb (used without object)

1. to move about randomly and wildly.

   Running down to the lake I hit a patch of mud and found myself flailing all over the path, arms and legs flying.

2. to make desperate or unproductive attempts to respond to a challenging problem, awkward situation, etc. (usually followed by around orabout ).

   He makes things worse by flailing about with administrative solutions to educational problems he doesn't understand.

   For six years the government flailed, proposing one ineffectual program after another.

verb (used with object)

1. to thresh (grain) with a flail.

   Together they managed to clear land, seed wheat, flail the grain by hand, and grind it into flour.

2. to beat, strike, attack, etc., repeatedly with or as if with a flail.

   I flailed the water with a variety of lures for hours, and caught three bass.

   The infantry closed in while artillery support flailed the enemy positions.

3. to move (a limb, one’s body, etc.) randomly and wildly (often followed by around orabout ).

   Gasping and choking, he flailed a hand in my general direction.

4. to swing (something) about as if using a flail.

   She violently flailed the flare around, trying to catch the attention of the figure on the hill.

adjective

1. (of a limb or joint of the body) having excessive or abnormal mobility due to loss of muscle control as the result of injury or disease.

   The orthopedist studied hundreds of cases of post-polio flail shoulder.

flail

/ fleɪl /

noun

1. an implement used for threshing grain, consisting of a wooden handle with a free-swinging metal or wooden bar attached to it

2. a weapon so shaped used in the Middle Ages

verb

1. (tr) to beat or thrash with or as if with a flail

2. to move or be moved like a flail; thresh about

   with arms flailing

Word History and Origins

Origin of flail¹

First recorded before 1100; Middle English fleil (noun), Old English flighel (probably misspelling of unattested flegil ), cognate with Dutch vlegel, German Flegel, from unattested West Germanic flagil-, from Late Latin flagellum “flail,” Latin: “whip, scourge”; flagellum

Word History and Origins

Origin of flail¹

C12 fleil , ultimately from Late Latin flagellum flail, from Latin: whip

Example Sentences

That’s why we need to share anything that captures them flailing around as much as possible.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"When other fish get caught in those nets they sort of flail and it sends out a vibration underwater, sort of like ringing the dinner bell," says Prof Pepin-Neff.

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They attacked the game, while Rangers flailed wildly.

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The puppet scenes, bestowing a belated yet supremely deserved spotlight on Abuela Julia, are the most original and haunting aspect of a production that too often flails for effects.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

And then he doesn’t get the response he wants and runs out flailing, like a toad that finally got turned back into a man?

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Related Words

• bash 
• smack 
• smash 
• thrash