flail

flail
/flayl/, n.
1. an instrument for threshing grain, consisting of a staff or handle to one end of which is attached a freely swinging stick or bar.
2. a similar instrument used as a weapon of war.
v.t., v.i.
3. to beat or swing with or as if with a flail.
[bef. 1100; ME fleil (n.), OE flighel (prob. misspelling of *flegil), c. D vlegel, G Flegel < WGmc *flagil- < LL flagellum flail, L: whip, scourge. See FLAGELLUM]

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      ancient hand tool for threshing grain. It consists of two pieces of wood: the handstaff, or helve, and the beater, joined by a thong. The handstaff is a light rod several feet long, the beater a shorter piece. With a flail, one man could thresh 7 bushels of wheat, 8 of rye, 15 of barley, 18 of oats, or 20 of buckwheat in a day (one bushel equals about 35 litres). The flail remained the principal method of threshing until the mid-19th century, when mechanical threshers became widespread (see thresher).

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Universalium. 2010.

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