thresh
/θɹɛʃ/ verb
Forms threshes threshing threshed
- verb (transitive, agriculture) To separate the grain from the straw or husks (chaff) by mechanical beating, with a flail or machinery, or by driving animals over them.
- verb (intransitive, of a crop) To be so separated, or to be capable of being so separated.
- verb (transitive, literary) To beat soundly, usually with some tool such as a stick or whip; to drub.
- verb (intransitive, literary) To violently toss the limbs about.
- verb (transitive, literary, usually with 'over') To belabor; to go over repeatedly, especially an argument.
- verb (nautical) To drive through adverse conditions (wind, waves).
Synonyms
thrash convulse thresh about thrash about slash toss jactitate flail lam
Etymology
From Middle English thrasshen, thresche, threschen, threschyn, threshen, thresshen, tressyn, þreisshe, þresshe, from Old English þerscan, þrexan, from Proto-Germanic *þreskaną (“to thresh; to tread”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, turn; to drill, pierce”). Doublet of thrash.
Cognate with Dutch dorsen (“to thresh; to thrash”), German and Luxembourgish dreschen (“to thresh; to thrash”), Yiddish דרעשן (dreshn, “to thresh”), Danish tærske (“to thresh”), Faroese treskja (“to thresh”), Icelandic þreskja (“to thresh”), Norwegian Nynorsk treska, treske, treskja, treskje (“to thrash”), Swedish tröska (“to thresh”), Gothic 𐌸𐍂𐌹𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌽 (þriskan, “to thresh”), Finnish rehkiä (“to drudge; to toil”); also Welsh taradr (“auger, wimble; awl, borer; drill”), Latin terō (“to rub or triturate; to wear away or wear out, consume; to tread; to press with a mill; to pass, spend”), Greek τρίβω (trívo, “to grate; to rub”), Albanian tjerr (“to spin”), Belarusian це́рці (cjérci, “to rub; to polish; to pinch; to grind”), Bulgarian три́я (tríja, “to rub; to chafe; to grind”), Czech třít (“to rub; to spawn”), Polish tarć, treć, trzeć, trzyć (“to rub; to shred; to cut; to chafe; to crush; to spawn”), Russian тере́ть (terétʹ, “to rub; to polish; to grind”), Serbo-Croatian тр̏ти, tȑti (“to rub; to cause friction; to scour; to break, crush”), Slovak trieť (“to rub”), Slovene treti (“to crack open; to rub”), Ukrainian те́рти (térty, “to rub; to scrub”), Armenian թուր (tʻur, “sword”), Sogdian ܕܣܦܪܛܪ (dsprtr, “hand towel”), Hittite 𒋻𒌑𒍣 (tar-ú-zi, “to perform a round dance, to dance in twisting manner”), Tocharian A and Tocharian B tärk- (“to allow, let; to let go”), Sanskrit तर्कु (tarku, “spindle”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To beat out grain from, as straw or husks; to beat the straw or husk of (grain) with a flail; to beat off, as the kernels of grain; as, to thrash wheat, rye, or oats; to thrash over the old straw.
- verb To beat soundly, as with a stick or whip; to drub.
- verb To practice thrashing grain or the like; to perform the business of beating grain from straw; as, a man who thrashes well.
- verb Hence, to labor; to toil; also, to move violently.
Etymology [OE. , , to beat, AS. , ; akin to D. dorschen, OD. derschen, G. dreschen, OHG. dreskan, Icel. , Sw. tröska, Dan. tærske, Goth. , Lith. traszketi to rattle, Russ. treskate to burst, crackle, tresk' a crash, OSlav. troska a stroke of lighting. Cf. Thresh.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “thresh”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details