FLAILING
Verb
flailing
present participle of flail
Noun
flailing (plural flailings)
A flailing action or motion.
The drowning man's flailings soon attracted the lifeguard's attention.
Source: Wiktionary
FLAIL
Flail, n. Etym: [L. flagellum whip, scourge, in LL., a threshing
flail: cf. OF. flael, flaiel, F. fléau. See Flagellum.]
1. An instrument for threshing or beating grain from the ear by hand,
consisting of a wooden staff or handle, at the end of which a stouter
and shorter pole or club, called a swipe, is so hung as to swing
freely.
His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn. Milton.
2. An ancient military weapon, like the common flail, often having
the striking part armed with rows of spikes, or loaded. Fairholt.
No citizen thought himself safe unless he carried under his coat a
small flail, loaded with lead, to brain the Popish assassins.
Macaulay.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition