lash

Universal Words verb, noun verb 1 to hit sb/sth with great force: [V, +adv./prep.] The rain lashed at the windows. * Branches lashed at my face. * [VN] Huge waves lashed the shore. 2 [VN] to hit a person or an animal with a whip, rope, stick, etc. 3 [VN] to criticize sb/sth in a very angry way 4 [VN+adv./prep.] to fasten sth tightly to sth else with ropes: Several logs had been lashed together to make a raft. * During the storm everything on deck had to be lashed down. 5 to move or to move sth quickly and violently from side to side: [V] The crocodile's tail was lashing furiously from side to side. [also VN] PHRASALVERBS lash out (at sb/sth) 1 to suddenly try to hit sb: She suddenly lashed out at the boy. 2 to criticize sb in an angry way: In a bitter article he lashed out at his critics. noun 1 = EYELASH: her long dark lashes 2 a hit with a whip, given as a form of punishment: They each received 20 lashes for stealing. * (figurative) to feel the lash of sb's tongue (= to be spoken to in an angry and critical way) 3 the thin leather part at the end of a whip: The lash struck him across the back.