flail vs windmill

flail

noun
  • A weapon which has the (usually spherical) striking part attached to the handle with a flexible joint such as a chain. 

  • 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. 

verb
  • To beat using a flail or similar implement. 

  • To wave or swing vigorously 

  • To thresh. 

  • To move like a flail. 

windmill

noun
  • A guitar move where the strumming hand mimics a turning windmill. 

  • A pitch where the pitcher swings his arm in a circular motion before throwing the ball. 

  • A child's toy consisting of vanes mounted on a stick that rotate when blown by a person or by the wind. 

  • Any of various muscle exercises in which a large deal of the body makes a great circle, typically one where a kettlebell is raised overhead and the torso is rotated to the other side with the hand reaching its foot (hitting the core, glutes, hamstrings, trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids and rotator cuffs) but sometimes even a windshield wiper. 

  • Any of various large papilionid butterflies of the genus Byasa, the wings of which resemble the vanes of a windmill. 

  • An imaginary enemy, but presented as real. 

  • A machine which translates linear motion of wind to rotational motion by means of adjustable vanes called sails. 

  • The structure containing such machinery. 

  • The false shower. 

  • A breakdancing move in which the dancer rolls his/her torso continuously in a circular path on the floor, across the upper chest, shoulders and back, while twirling the legs in a V shape in the air. 

  • A dunk where the dunker swings his arm in a circular motion before throwing the ball through the hoop. 

verb
  • To rotate with a sweeping motion. 

  • Of a rotating part of a machine, to (become disengaged and) rotate freely. 

How often have the words flail and windmill occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )