Flail \Flail\, n. [L. flagellum whip, scourge, in LL., a threshing flail: cf. OF. flael, flaiel, F. fl['e]au. See {Flagellum}.] 1. 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. --Milton.
2. An ancient military weapon, like the common flail, often having the striking part armed with rows of spikes, or loaded. --Fairholt.
No citizen thought himself safe unless he carried under his coat a small flail, loaded with lead, to brain the Popish assassins. --Macaulay.
People lie on the floors, and barefoot women in tattered saris flail the hallways with twig brooms that stir up dust without sweeping it away.
Bashing the water, the men flail away in an effort to snag the fish.
Afghan soldiers used clubs and tree branches to flail cold, hungry people who nearly engulfed Soviet troopers distributing emergency rations in this blockaded city Tuesday.
Businesses flail about to survive under new rules or otherwise lobby to reinvoke the old rules of tariffs or other barriers to competition.
And even as they flail, some admit Mr. Buchanan has served a useful purpose by acting as a lightning rod to deflect criticism.
I found myself hissing 'Enough, enough' as I tried to flail my way out of that insane aviary.' From this horror Keenan is rescued by the sudden arrival of his companion of the following years, John McCarthy.