thresh

[thresh]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR thresh ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to separate the grain or seeds from (a cereal plant or the like) by some mechanical means, as by beating with a flail or by the action of a threshing machine.

to beat as if with a flail.

verb (used without object)

to thresh wheat, grain, etc.

to deliver blows as if with a flail.

noun

the act of threshing.

Verb Phrases

thresh out/over. thrash(def 12).

Also thrash.

Origin of thresh

before 900; Middle English threschen, thresshen, Old English threscan; cognate with German dreschen, Gothic thriskan; akin to Dutch dorsen, Old Norse thriskja

Related formsre·thresh, verb (used with object)un·threshed, adjective

Can be confusedthrash thresh

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

Related Words for thresh

assault, cane, castigate, slap, ram, bruise, spank, belabor, hammer, belt, pummel, pelt, cudgel, trounce, maltreat, swat, lambaste, flagellate, club, punish

Examples from the Web for thresh

Historical Examples of thresh

But fortunately he came up on the surface to thresh about some more.
Tales of Fishes
Zane Grey
The Moujik began to thresh: from every sheaf he got a peck of grain.
Russian Fairy Tales
W. R. S. Ralston
All his optimism failed to thresh a grain of hope from the chaff of his postulations.
Cabbages and Kings
O. Henry
He fell with a great roar, and began to thresh about in the bushes.
The Young Alaskans on the Trail
Emerson Hough
Be sensible; stack what you can, but don't wait to thresh or grind.
The Reckoning
Robert W. Chambers

British Dictionary definitions for thresh

thresh

verb

to beat or rub stalks of ripe corn or a similar crop either with a hand implement or a machine to separate the grain from the husks and straw

(tr) to beat or strike

(intr often foll by about) to toss and turn; thrash

noun

the act of threshing

Word Origin for thresh

Old English threscan; related to Gothic thriskan, Old Norse thriskja; see thrash

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 thresh

Old English þrescan, þerscan "to beat, sift grain by trampling or beating," from Proto-Germanic *threskanan "to thresh," originally "to tread, to stamp noisily" (cf. Middle Dutch derschen, Dutch dorschen, Old High German dreskan, German dreschen, Old Norse þreskja, Gothic þriskan), from PIE root *tere- "to rub, turn" (see throw).

The basic notion is of treading out wheat under foot of men or oxen, later, with the advent of the flail, the word acquired its modern extended sense of "to knock, beat, strike." The original Germanic sense is suggested by the use of the word in Romanic languages that borrowed it, e.g. Italian trescare "to prance," Old French treschier "to dance," Spanish triscar "to stamp the feet."