flail

Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

flail [flail flails flailed flailing] verb, noun BrE [fleɪl] NAmE [fleɪl]
verb
1. intransitive, transitive ~ (sth) (about/around) to move around without control; to move your arms and legs around without control
•The boys flailed around on the floor.
•He was running along, his arms flailing wildly.
2. transitive ~ sb/sth to hit sb/sth very hard, especially with a stick
Verb forms:

Word Origin:
Old English, of West Germanic origin, based on Latin flagellum ‘whip’; probably influenced in Middle English by Old French flaiel or Dutch vlegel.

Example Bank:
•She ran along, her arms flailing wildly.

 
noun
a tool that has a long handle with a stick swinging from it, used especially in the past to separate grains of ↑wheat from their dry outer covering, by beating the ↑wheat

Word Origin:
Old English, of West Germanic origin, based on Latin flagellum ‘whip’; probably influenced in Middle English by Old French flaiel or Dutch vlegel.
 

• Từ đồng nghĩa / Synonyms:
  thresh, thrash, lam