thrash

[thrash]

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verb (used with object)

to beat soundly in punishment; flog.

to defeat thoroughly: The home team thrashed the visitors.

Nautical. to force (a close-hauled sailing ship under heavy canvas) against a strong wind or sea.

thresh.

verb (used without object)

to toss, or plunge about.

Nautical. to make way against the wind, tide, etc.; beat.

thresh(defs 3, 4).

noun

an act or instance of thrashing; beating; blow.

thresh(def 5).

Swimming. the upward and downward movement of the legs, as in the crawl.

British Slang. a party, usually with drinks.

Verb Phrases

thrash out/over, to talk over thoroughly and vigorously in order to reach a decision, conclusion, or understanding; discuss exhaustively.Also thresh out/over.

Origin of thrash

before 900; Middle English thrasshen, variant of thresshen to thresh

Related formsun·thrashed, adjectivewell-thrashed, adjective

Can be confusedthrash thresh

Synonyms for thrash

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR thrash ON THESAURUS.COM

1. maul, drub.

Synonym study

1. See beat.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for thrashed

pummel, overwhelm, rout, trounce, spank, crush, clobber, defeat, paste, maul, whip, trim, pound, toss, wallop, belabor, seesaw, cane, kill, pitch

Examples from the Web for thrashed

Contemporary Examples of thrashed

I lay there and thrashed about and all I could hear was my father and ‘ha, ha, ha’.
Kate and William’s Royal Family Values
Tom Sykes
September 22, 2014
I lay there and thrashed about and all I could hear was my father and 'ha, ha, ha'.
Philip and Charles's Feud Resurfaces Over ... Wind Energy
Tom Sykes
May 2, 2012
“We got thrashed,” Obama recalled, adding that he thought this time it would be better to just watch a sports event.
President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron Share a Symbolic Make-Nice Moment
Eleanor Clift
March 14, 2012
When Saddam Hussein tried to challenge us from within, we thrashed him in the Gulf War.
Israel's Palestinian Arab Spring
Peter Beinart
May 16, 2011
But, she dog-paddled furiously, thrashed about, made a lot of waves, and managed not to drown.
Palin vs. Biden 2016
Mark McKinnon
June 15, 2009

Historical Examples of thrashed

The challenges before us will be thrashed out with the House and the Senate.
United States Presidents' Inaugural Speeches
Various
The driver had been drinking and in his drunkenness he had thrashed the poor beast.
Changing Winds
St. John G. Ervine
He learned nothing by experience: he never knew when he was thrashed.
A Boy I Knew and Four Dogs
Laurence Hutton
And then, seizing him by the white stock at his throat, I thrashed him.
The Woman Thou Gavest Me
Hall Caine
I thrashed him while he fumed and foamed, and cursed and swore.
The Woman Thou Gavest Me
Hall Caine

British Dictionary definitions for thrashed

thrash

verb

(tr) to beat soundly, as with a whip or stick

(tr) to defeat totally; overwhelm

(intr) to beat or plunge about in a wild manner

(intr) to move the legs up and down in the water, as in certain swimming strokes

to sail (a boat) against the wind or tide or (of a boat) to sail in this way

another word for thresh

noun

the act of thrashing; blow; beating

informal a party or similar social gathering

Word Origin for thrash

Old English threscan; related to Old High German dreskan, Old Norse thriskja

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for thrashed

thrash

1580s, "to separate grains from wheat, etc., by beating," dialectal variant of threshen (see thresh). Sense of "beat (someone) with (or as if with) a flail" is first recorded c.1600. Meaning "to make wild movements like those of a flail or whip" is attested from 1846. Related: Thrashed; thrashing. Type of fast heavy metal music first called by this name 1982.