Crossword Genius

In a girl's embrace, he flails! (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

lashes

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'flails' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?

'in a girl's embrace he' is the wordplay.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'a girl's embrace' becomes 'lass' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'lass' placed around 'he' is 'LASHES'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for lashes that I've seen before include "Eye hairs" , "on the lid" , "Punitive strokes of a whip" , "Rushes" , "Strikes with a whip" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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