{"id": "flail", "metadata": {"operation": "retrieve", "provider": "Oxford University Press", "schema": "RetrieveEntry"}, "results": [{"id": "flail", "language": "en-gb", "lexicalEntries": [{"entries": [{"etymologies": ["Old English, of West Germanic origin, based on Latin flagellum \u2018whip\u2019 (see flagellum); probably influenced in Middle English by Old French flaiel or Dutch vlegel"], "pronunciations": [{"audioFile": "https://audio.oxforddictionaries.com/en/mp3/flail_gb_1.mp3", "dialects": ["British English"], "phoneticNotation": "IPA", "phoneticSpelling": "fle\u026al"}], "senses": [{"definitions": ["a threshing tool consisting of a wooden staff with a short heavy stick swinging from it."], "domainClasses": [{"id": "farming", "text": "Farming"}], "id": "m_en_gbus0368550.005", "semanticClasses": [{"id": "implement", "text": "Implement"}], "shortDefinitions": ["threshing tool"], "subsenses": [{"definitions": ["a device similar to a flail, used as a weapon or for flogging."], "domainClasses": [{"id": "weapons", "text": "Weapons"}], "id": "m_en_gbus0368550.008", "semanticClasses": [{"id": "weapon", "text": "Weapon"}], "shortDefinitions": ["similar device used as weapon"]}, {"definitions": ["a machine having a similar action to a flail, used for threshing or slashing"], "domainClasses": [{"id": "farming", "text": "Farming"}, {"id": "mechanics", "text": "Mechanics"}], "examples": [{"notes": [{"text": "as modifier", "type": "grammaticalNote"}], "text": "a flail hedge trimmer"}], "id": "m_en_gbus0368550.009", "semanticClasses": [{"id": "mechanism", "text": "Mechanism"}], "shortDefinitions": ["machine with similar action"]}]}]}], "language": "en-gb", "lexicalCategory": {"id": "noun", "text": "Noun"}, "text": "flail"}, {"entries": [{"pronunciations": [{"audioFile": "https://audio.oxforddictionaries.com/en/mp3/flail_gb_1.mp3", "dialects": ["British English"], "phoneticNotation": "IPA", "phoneticSpelling": "fle\u026al"}], "senses": [{"definitions": ["wave or swing wildly"], "examples": [{"notes": [{"text": "no object", "type": "grammaticalNote"}], "text": "his arms flailed as he sought to maintain his balance"}], "id": "m_en_gbus0368550.012", "shortDefinitions": ["wave or swing wildly"], "subsenses": [{"definitions": ["flounder; struggle uselessly"], "examples": [{"text": "I was flailing about in the water"}], "id": "m_en_gbus0368550.018", "notes": [{"text": "no object", "type": "grammaticalNote"}], "shortDefinitions": ["flounder"], "synonyms": [{"language": "en", "text": "flounder"}, {"language": "en", "text": "struggle"}, {"language": "en", "text": "thrash"}, {"language": "en", "text": "thresh"}, {"language": "en", "text": "squirm"}, {"language": "en", "text": "wriggle"}, {"language": "en", "text": "writhe"}, {"language": "en", "text": "twist"}, {"language": "en", "text": "splash"}, {"language": "en", "text": "stumble"}, {"language": "en", "text": "blunder"}, {"language": "en", "text": "fumble"}, {"language": "en", "text": "wiggle"}, {"language": "en", "text": "twitch"}], "thesaurusLinks": [{"entry_id": "flail", "sense_id": "t_en_gb0005728.002"}]}], "synonyms": [{"language": "en", "text": "wave"}, {"language": "en", "text": "swing"}, {"language": "en", "text": "thrash about"}, {"language": "en", "text": "flap about"}, {"language": "en", "text": "beat about"}, {"language": "en", "text": "windmill"}, {"language": "en", "text": "move erratically"}], "thesaurusLinks": [{"entry_id": "flail", "sense_id": "t_en_gb0005728.001"}]}, {"definitions": ["beat or flog (someone)"], "examples": [{"text": "he escorted them, flailing their shoulders with his cane"}], "id": "m_en_gbus0368550.020", "notes": [{"text": "with object", "type": "grammaticalNote"}], "shortDefinitions": ["beat"], "subsenses": [{"definitions": ["cut (vegetation) with a flail"], "examples": [{"text": "the modern practice of flailing hedges every year with mechanical cutters"}], "id": "m_en_gbus0368550.021", "regions": [{"id": "british", "text": "British"}], "shortDefinitions": ["cut vegetation with flail"]}], "synonyms": [{"language": "en", "text": "thrash"}, {"language": "en", "text": "beat"}, {"language": "en", "text": "strike"}, {"language": "en", "text": "batter"}, {"language": "en", "text": "drub"}, {"language": "en", "text": "flog"}, {"language": "en", "text": "whip"}, {"language": "en", "text": "lash"}, {"language": "en", "text": "scourge"}, {"language": "en", "text": "flay"}, {"language": "en", "text": "flagellate"}, {"language": "en", "text": "strap"}, {"language": "en", "text": "switch"}, {"language": "en", "text": "tan"}, {"language": "en", "text": "cane"}, {"language": "en", "text": "tan someone's hide"}, {"language": "en", "text": "whip someone's hide"}, {"language": "en", "text": "give someone a hiding"}, {"language": "en", "text": "beat the living daylights out of"}, {"language": "en", "text": "clout"}, {"language": "en", "text": "welt"}, {"language": "en", "text": "belabour"}], "thesaurusLinks": [{"entry_id": "flail", "sense_id": "t_en_gb0005728.003"}]}]}], "language": "en-gb", "lexicalCategory": {"id": "verb", "text": "Verb"}, "text": "flail"}], "type": "headword", "word": "flail"}], "word": "flail"}