Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Flail

Flail

,
Noun.
[L.
flagellum
whip, scourge, in LL., a threshing flail: cf. OF.
flael
,
flaiel
, F.
fleĢ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.

Webster 1828 Edition

Flail

FLA'IL

,
Noun.
[L. flagellum. We retain the original verb in flog, to strike, to lay on, L. fligo, whence affligo, to afflict; plaga, a stroke, or perhaps from the same root as lick and lay. Gr. See Lick.]
An instrument for thrashing or beating corn from the ear.

Similar Results