flail
/fleɪl/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
archaic/fɹeɪl/
flail noun: 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.
Noun
flail (plural flails)
- 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;1631, John Milton, L'Allegro - Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail1816, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan
- When in one night, ere glimpse of morn,
- A weapon which has the (usually spherical) striking part attached to the handle with a flexible joint such as a chain.
- Part 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.1957 December, “Diesel Depot for Darlington”, in Railway Magazine, page 876
Verb
flail (third-person singular simple present flails, present participle flailing, simple past and past participle flailed)
- To beat using a flail or similar implement.
- To 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.2011 October 20, Michael da Silva, “Stoke 3 - 0 Macc Tel-Aviv”, in BBC Sport
- He stopped in his tracks – then, flailing his arms wildly in the air, began to stagger backwards.1937, H. P. Lovecraft, The Evil Clergyman
- Synonyms:
- thrash
- To thresh.
- To 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[.]1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 46
flail meaning in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Tagalog
flail in Tamil
- சூடடிக்கும் கோல், முற்காலச் சணல் வெட்டும் கருவி
flail in Malayalam
- ധാന്യം മെതിക്കുന്ന കോൽ, പുത്തരിക്കോല്, ടി ഉപകരണം കൊണ്ട് മെതിക്കുക, അടികോൽ
flail in Kannada
- ಬಡಿಕೋಲ್, ಬಡಿಗೋಲ್, ಬಡಿಕೋಲು, ಬಡಿಗೋಲು, ತೆನೆ ಬಡಿಯುವ ಕೋಲು, ಒಕ್ಕುಗೋಲು
flail in Tagalog
- tool
- tiyuka
More languagesFewer languages
- flail in Persian
- سالیخ sâlix
Examples of flail in a sentence
- I flail like an angry cat, reaching out for anything I can grasp.
- So, as nets flailed and spears jabbed, she set about dismounting the riders.
- How many companies get the chance to flail around for 6 years and then get a second kick at the can?
Synonyms of flail
Forms of flail
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | flails |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | flails |
| present participle | flailing |
| past participle | flailed |
| past | flailed |
Origin of flail
From 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”).
Words formed from flail
Phrases with flail
Words that rhyme with flail
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- veil
- pale
- avail
- wale
- whale
- bail
- hail
- yale
- bale
- snail
- travail
- brail
- exhale
- frail
- jail
- prevail
- swale
- vail
- wail
- derail
- dwale
- entail
- Gail
- gayle
- impale
- kale
- quail
- regale
- spale
- thumbnail
- white whale
- ale
- curtail
- drail
- gale
- inhale
- retail
- shale
- tael
- unveil
- ail
- all hail
- assail
- ayel
- beyond the pale
- braille
- cakes and ale
- camail
Questions about flail
- What does flail mean?
- Flail means 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.
- What is flail in Tamil?
- Flail in Tamil is சூடடிக்கும் கோல், முற்காலச் சணல் வெட்டும் கருவி. See Flail meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is flail?
- Flail can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce flail?
- Flail is pronounced /fleɪl/.
- What is the plural of flail?
- The plural of flail is flails.
Words near flail in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: flail (page history and authors); flail (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); flail (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); flail (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-flail.ogg, en-au-flail.ogg.
Cite this entry: “flail.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/flail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.