throstle

[thros-uh l]

noun

British (chiefly Literary ). the song thrush.
Obsolete. a machine for spinning wool, cotton, etc., in which the twisting and winding are simultaneous and continuous.

Origin of throstle

before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch drossel, German Drossel; akin to Old Norse thrǫstr, Latin turdus thrush

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for throstle

Historical Examples of throstle

Yellow hair at her, and eyes like the sea, and a voice same as the throstle!
Capt'n Davy's Honeymoon
Hall Caine
Barbara was nineteen, and she had a voice which for gaiety and sweetness was like that of a throstle.
Cruel Barbara Allen
David Christie Murray
Throstle and skylark to be admired must be heard at a distance.
Birds in Town and Village
W. H. Hudson
You'll niver hear a throstle i' front o' a robin, nor a robin i' front o' a blackbird.
More Tales of the Ridings
Frederic Moorman
I wonder if even a throstle would not get out of tune were it sentenced to life-long captivity?
Mavis of Green Hill
Faith Baldwin

British Dictionary definitions for throstle

throstle

noun

a poetic name for the thrush, esp the song thrush
a spinning machine for wool or cotton in which the fibres are twisted and wound continuously

Word Origin for throstle

Old English; related to Old Saxon throsla, Old Norse thröstr, Middle High German drostel

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 throstle

"thrush," Old English þrostle, from Proto-Germanic *thrustalo (cf. Old Saxon throsla, Old High German droscala, German Drossel "thrush"), altered from (perhaps a diminutive of) *thurstaz (see thrush (n.1)), though OED considers this a distinct word from the same PIE root.