Verb

1. to beat or flog, especially for extracting the fibres from flax stalks; to scutch
   • 1858: The House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths of Gawthorpe Hall, in the County of Lancaster, John Harland (ed.)

     The first operation in dressing flax is to swingle or beat it, in order to detach it from the harle or skimps.

Noun

1. An implement used to separate the fibres of flax by beating them; a scutch