thrasher

American  

[thrash-er] / ˈθræʃ ər /

noun

1. a person or thing that thrashes.

2. any of several long-tailed, thrushlike birds, especially of the genus Toxostoma, related to the mockingbirds.

3. thresher.

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thrasher ¹ British  

/ ˈθræʃə /

noun

1. another name for thresher

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thrasher ² British  

/ ˈθræʃə /

noun

1. any of various brown thrushlike American songbirds of the genus Toxostoma and related genera, having a long downward-curving bill and long tail: family Mimidae (mockingbirds)

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Etymology

Origin of thrasher

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at thrash, -er ¹

Example Sentences

Lead single “Lux Æterna” is a serviceable thrasher in keeping with 2016’s “Hardwired… To Self-Destruct,” the band’s previous album which marked a bit of a return to form for the OG metal titans.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 28, 2022

“In 2015, I had great blue heron, red-bellied woodpecker, American crow, American robin, brown thrasher, northern parula, pine warbler, yellow-throated warbler, chipping sparrow, white-throated sparrow.”

From Slate • Apr. 12, 2019

This was a brown thrasher, he told me, describing its attributes with a mix of precision and fondness — “rufous brown, speckled on the breast, yellow eye, curved beak, long tail.”

From New York Times • Jan. 9, 2019

Franzen excitedly thinks he’s caught sight of a Californian thrasher, a long-tailed songbird with a curved beak.

From The Guardian • Nov. 14, 2018

I stretched back in the sun and hummed the song of the brown thrasher and of Barometer, the nuthatch.

From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George