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/fleɪl/ · 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..
When in one night, ere glimpse of morn, His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn That ten day-labourers could not end;
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail, Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail
On him alone the curse of Cain Fell, like a flail on the garnered grain, And struck him to the earth!
If the farmer must use the spade because he has not capital enough for a plough, the sickle instead of the reaping machine, the flail instead of the thresher...
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.
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.
He stopped in his tracks – then, flailing his arms wildly in the air, began to stagger backwards.
He was flailing wildly, but didn't land a blow.
Use flail when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
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..
Common synonyms include frail, thrashel, threshel, thrash.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
When in one night, ere glimpse of morn, His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn That ten day-labourers could not end;
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