Flail vs Thrash - What's the difference?
flail | thrash | Synonyms |
A tool used for threshing, consisting of a long handle with a shorter stick attached with a short piece of chain, thong or similar material.
A weapon which has the (usually spherical) striking part attached to the handle with a flexible joint such as a chain.
His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn
That ten day-labourers could not end; * 1816 — *: Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail * 1842 — *: On him alone the curse of Cain
Fell, like a flail on the garnered grain,
And struck him to the earth! * 1879 — , ch V *: If the farmer must use the spade because he has not capital enough for a plough, the sickle instead of the reaping machine, the flail instead of the thresher... To beat using a flail or similar implement.
To wave or swing vigorously
*
* 1937 , ,
To thresh.
To move like a flail.
To beat mercilessly.
To defeat utterly.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=January 8
, author=Paul Fletcher
, title=Stevenage 3 - 1 Newcastle
, work=BBC
To thresh.
To move about wildly or violently; to flail; to labour.
* '', 1987, ''John Dryden: The Major Works , Oxford University Press,
(software) To extensively test a software system, giving a program various inputs and observing the behavior and outputs that result.
(computing) In computer architecture, to cause poor performance of a virtual memory (or paging) system.
A beat or blow; the sound of beating.
* 1918 , ,
* 1934 May, ,
(music) A particularly aggressive and intense form of heavy metal music with a focus on speed, technical precision, and alternate picking.
Thrash is a synonym of flail.
As nouns the difference between flail and thrash
is that flail is a tool used for threshing, consisting of a long handle with a shorter stick attached with a short piece of chain, thong or similar material while thrash is a beat or blow; the sound of beating.As verbs the difference between flail and thrash
is that flail is to beat using a flail or similar implement while thrash is to beat mercilessly.flail
English
Noun
(en noun)Quotations
* 1631 — *: When in one night, ere glimpse of morn,His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn
That ten day-labourers could not end; * 1816 — *: Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail * 1842 — *: On him alone the curse of Cain
Fell, like a flail on the garnered grain,
And struck him to the earth! * 1879 — , ch V *: If the farmer must use the spade because he has not capital enough for a plough, the sickle instead of the reaping machine, the flail instead of the thresher...
Coordinate terms
*(weapon) nunchakuVerb
(en verb)- He stopped in his tracks – then, flailing his arms wildly in the air, began to stagger backwards.
- He was flailing wildly, but didn't land a blow.
Synonyms
* thrashSee also
* (wikipedia "flail") *thrash
English
Verb
(es)citation, page= , passage=Pardew made five changes to the side that thrashed West Ham 5-0 on Wednesday - with players such as James Perch and Alan Smith given the chance to underline their case for a regular starting berth. }}
page 364,
- I rather would be Maevius, thrash for rhymes, / Like his, the scorn and scandal of the times.
Noun
(-)- Even among friends at the dinner-table he talked as though he were denouncing them, or someone else, on a platform; he measured his phrases, built his sentences, cumulated his effects, and pounded his opponents, real or imagined. His humor was glow, like iron at dull heat; his blow was elementary, like the thrash of a whale.
- As he reeled on wide-braced legs, sobbing for breath, the jungle and the moon swimming bloodily to his sight, the thrash of bat-wings was loud in his ears.