▪ I. † ˈflagel1 Obs.
Also 4 flegel.
[a. OF. flageol, flagel, flajol, a. Pr. flajol, flaujol; of unknown origin: the vulgar Lat. type would be flaviolus.
Diez's suggestion of derivation from Rom. flauto flute is untenable on phonological grounds.]
= flageolet.
| c 1325 Coer de L. 6681 They herde no pype, ne flagel. a 1330 Fragm. Alexander in Rouland & V. (1836) p. xx, The waite gan a flegel blawe. |
▪ II. flagel2
Used with etymological allusion for flail, q.v.
| 1647 Fuller Good Th. in Worse T., Occas. Med. x. 218, I finde two sad Etymologies of Tribulation. One from (Tribulus) a three forked Thorn..The other, from Tribulus, the Head of a Flail, or Flagell. |