Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense flails, present participle flailing, past tense, past participle flailed
1. verb
If your arms or legs flail or if you flail them about, they wave about in an energetic but uncontrolled way.
His arms were flailing in all directions. [VERB]
He gave a choked cry, flailed his arms wildly for a moment, and then went over theedge. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: thrash, beat, windmill, thresh More Synonyms of flail
Flail around means the same as flail.
He starting flailing around and hitting Vincent in the chest. [VERBPARTICLE]
2. countable noun
A flail is a tool which consists of a piece of wood or metal that can swing freely from a handle. Flails are used to beat crops such as corn in order to separate the grain from the rest of the plant.
Phrasal verbs:
See flail around
flail in British English
(fleɪl)
noun
1.
an implement used for threshing grain, consisting of a wooden handle with a free-swinging metal or wooden bar attached to it
2.
a weapon so shaped used in the Middle Ages
verb
3. (transitive)
to beat or thrash with or as if with a flail
4.
to move or be moved like a flail; thresh about
with arms flailing
Word origin
C12 fleil, ultimately from Late Latin flagellum flail, from Latin: whip
flail in American English
(fleɪl)
noun
1.
a farm tool consisting of a free-swinging stick tied to the end of a long handle, used to thresh grain
verb transitive, verb intransitive
2.
to thresh with a flail
3.
to strike or beat as with a flail
4.
to move (one's arms) about like flails
Word origin
ME fleil < OFr flaiel & OE *flegel, both < L flagellum, a whip, scourge: see flagellate
Examples of 'flail' in a sentence
flail
This leaves the majority flailing around trying to sort things out alone, or dumping their angst on family and friends.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Legs flailing, they trample over each other for Weetabix and milk.
The Sun (2011)
From all this you are probably guessing that I am flailing around for excuses for a woeful underperformance this year.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
That's an elbow, not a flailing arm.
The Sun (2013)
It boomed and tugged wildly, flailing at my left ear, but there was no time to deal with it.
Ben Nimmo IN FORKBEARD'S WAKE: Coasting Round Scandinavia (2003)
In other languages
flail
British English: flail VERB
If your arms or legs flail or if you flail them about, they wave about in an energetic but uncontrolled way.
His arms were flailing in all directions.
American English: flail
Brazilian Portuguese: agitar-se
Chinese: 用力地胡乱挥动
European Spanish: sacudir
French: battre l'air
German: rudern mit
Italian: agitarsi in modo scomposto
Japanese: 振り回す/ばたばたと動く
Korean: 마구 흔들리다
European Portuguese: agitar-se
Latin American Spanish: sacudir
(verb)
Definition
to wave about wildly
His arms were flailing in all directions.
Synonyms
thrash
He collapsed on the floor, thrashing his legs about.