Flailed

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /fleɪld/

Definitions

1. Moved arms or legs in an uncontrolled or erratic way
2. Waved limbs about in a frenzied or uncoordinated manner
3. Threw the arms and legs around energetically without control

Etymology: "Flailed" is the past tense of "flail," and the verb comes from the noun "flail," the wooden threshing tool. A flail was a hand-held implement made of a wooden handle joined by a hinge or leather thong to a free-swinging stick or beater, used to beat grain loose from its husks. The noun goes back to Old French "flaiel," from Latin "flagellum," meaning "whip" or "small scourge," a diminutive of "flagrum," a whip. The Latin root also gave English "flagellate" and "flagellum." The verb, meaning to swing or thrash about wildly, appeared in English in the 16th century, and it carried the same motion as the tool: an arm or limb swinging loosely on a joint, striking unpredictably. Someone who flails is moving like a threshing flail, with no steady control over where the blow lands.

Synonyms: thrashed, swung

Antonyms: calmed, controlled