thresh

American  

[thresh] / θrɛʃ /

verb (used with object)

1. 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.

2. to beat as if with a flail.

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verb (used without object)

1. to thresh wheat, grain, etc.

2. to deliver blows as if with a flail.

noun

1. the act of threshing.

verb phrase

1. thresh out / over. thrash.

thresh British  

/ θrɛʃ /

verb

1. 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

2. (tr) to beat or strike

3. to toss and turn; thrash

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noun

1. the act of threshing

Other Word Forms

• rethresh verb (used with object)
• unthreshed adjective

Etymology

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

Example Sentences

Plus, no one family could afford all of the different equipment—the plows, the threshing machines, the corn shellers, and so on—that they needed to farm all their land.

From Literature

Mechanization soon followed, with threshing machines and combine harvesters leaving less behind for gleaners to collect.

From Salon

The Taklamakan Desert was a vast floor of threshing dust.

From Literature

It takes a village, not a threshing machine, to complete the harvest of pounds of watermelon seeds that will fill the simple, white packets sold by Turtle Tree Seed.

From New York Times

She downloaded the book’s audio version and listened to it as she drove her 25-ton John Deere combine through her fields, reaping, threshing and winnowing hundreds of bushels.

From Seattle Times