Meaning

noun an implement consisting of handle with a free swinging stick at the end; used in manual threshing

verb give a thrashing to; beat hard

verb move like a flail; thresh about

originFrom Middle English flayle, from earlier fleil, fleyl, fleȝȝl, from Old English fligel, *flegel (“flail”), from Proto-West Germanic *flagil, of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots flail (“a thresher's flail”), West Frisian fleil, flaaiel (“flail”), Dutch vlegel (“flail”), German Flegel (“flail”). Possibly a native Germanic word from Proto-Germanic *flagilaz (“whip”), from Proto-Germanic *flag-,…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0