Dictionary.com
QUIZ
CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?
There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?
Question 1 of 7
Which sentence is correct?

Origin of flail

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”; see flagellum
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use flail in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for flail

flail
/ (fleɪl) /

noun
an implement used for threshing grain, consisting of a wooden handle with a free-swinging metal or wooden bar attached to it
a weapon so shaped used in the Middle Ages
verb
(tr) to beat or thrash with or as if with a flail
to move or be moved like a flail; thresh aboutwith arms flailing

Word Origin for flail

C12 fleil, ultimately from Late Latin flagellum flail, from Latin: whip
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
FEEDBACK