throstle

American  

[thros-uhl] / ˈθrɒs əl /

noun

1. British (chiefly Literary). the song thrush.

2. Obsolete. a machine for spinning wool, cotton, etc., in which the twisting and winding are simultaneous and continuous.

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throstle British  

/ ˈθrɒsəl /

noun

1. a poetic name for the thrush, esp the song thrush

2. a spinning machine for wool or cotton in which the fibres are twisted and wound continuously

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Etymology

Origin of throstle

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

throstle

"What do you think of this passage?" he scornfully asked a Shakespearean enthusiast: " 'I would as lief be thrust through a quicket hedge as cry Pooh to a callow throstle.'"

From Time Magazine Archive

I want to take my heart away, Break it away from the branch where it clings; I want to quit the barren spray Where now no throstle sings.

From Songs of Womanhood by Alma-Tadema, Laurence

Think, if clear the throstle sing, A month his note will thicken; A throat of gold in a golden spring At the edge of the snow will sicken.

From Victorian Songs Lyrics of the Affections and Nature by Garrett, Edmund Henry

Dark thickets still lower—green meadows are blooming, Where the throstle is singing, and reindeer are roaming.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol 58, No. 357, July 1845 by Various

A jolly old throstle is singing away in the elm which overhangs the parson's gate.

From Despair's Last Journey by Murray, David Christie