"flail about" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "flails about",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flailing about",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flailed about",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flailed about",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "flail about (third-person singular simple present flails about, present participle flailing about, simple past and past participle flailed about)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "62 38",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "63 37",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs with particle (about)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1969, Theodore Millon, Modern Psychopathology: A Biosocial Approach to Maladaptive Learning and Functioning",
          "text": "Barry continued to shout obscenities and to flail about in a strait jacket, finally succumbing to the effects of intravenously administered tranquilizers.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To wave one's arms (or upper body) about violently, rather like a flail."
      ],
      "id": "en-flail_about-en-verb-Vj9~e-sR",
      "links": [
        [
          "wave",
          "wave"
        ],
        [
          "violently",
          "violently"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To wave one's arms (or upper body) about violently, rather like a flail."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "To make efforts that are strenuous but disorganized and ineffectual."
      ],
      "id": "en-flail_about-en-verb-34AyCWC1",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, figurative) To make efforts that are strenuous but disorganized and ineffectual."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "intransitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "flail about"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs with particle (about)",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "flails about",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flailing about",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flailed about",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flailed about",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "flail about (third-person singular simple present flails about, present participle flailing about, simple past and past participle flailed about)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1969, Theodore Millon, Modern Psychopathology: A Biosocial Approach to Maladaptive Learning and Functioning",
          "text": "Barry continued to shout obscenities and to flail about in a strait jacket, finally succumbing to the effects of intravenously administered tranquilizers.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To wave one's arms (or upper body) about violently, rather like a flail."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "wave",
          "wave"
        ],
        [
          "violently",
          "violently"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To wave one's arms (or upper body) about violently, rather like a flail."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make efforts that are strenuous but disorganized and ineffectual."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, figurative) To make efforts that are strenuous but disorganized and ineffectual."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "intransitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "flail about"
}