thresh
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.
was threshing
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past progressiveof thresh.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Anti-Saloon League said he was "threshing old straw."
From Time Magazine Archive
We did not speak of him to Beverly, for our boy had suddenly grown restless, and his blood was threshing furiously in his veins, and he was in pain, but only briefly.
From Vanguards of the Plains by Margaret Hill McCarter
It was when Gideon was threshing wheat that the angel appeared to him.
From Expositions of Holy Scripture by Alexander Maclaren
In the darkness the sharp nose of his little boat swung out to the stream, and ten minutes after the message came the boat was threshing a way against the swift river.
From Sanders of the River by Edgar Wallace
Later still he was threshing some of this corn with a flail.
From Change in the Village by George Sturt
