Flail



GRE Barron

解释

GRE 红宝书

• n.连枷 ( 打谷工具) ; v.打, 打击
• ［英］ n.连枷 ( 打谷工具) ; v.打, 打击 ( to strike or beat as with a flail)
• ［记］ 和frail ( 脆弱的) 一起记, flail中的""l""像根棍子, 所以可看作""打击"", frail中 的""r""像朵花, 所以可看作""脆弱的""

Webster Collegiate

I. noun

• Etymology: Middle English fleil, flail, partly from Old English *flegel (whence Old English fligel), from Late Latin flagellum flail, from Latin, whip & partly from Anglo-French flael, from Late Latin flagellum — more at flagellate
• Date: before 12th century
• a hand threshing implement consisting of a wooden handle at the end of which a stouter and shorter stick is so hung as to swing freely

II. verb

• Date: 15th century
• transitive verb
  • 1.
    • a. to strike with or as if with a flail <arms flailing the water>
    • b. to move, swing, or beat as if wielding a flail <flailing a club to drive away the insects>
  • 2. to thresh (grain) with a flail
• intransitive verb
  • to move, swing, or beat like a flail

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