threshv.

Brit.

/θrɛʃ/, U.S.

/θrɛʃ/

Forms: 1. Present stem.

α. (a) early Old English þercce (Kentish, present subjunctive, perhaps transmission error), early Old English ðerccedum (Kentish, present participle, dative, transmission error), Old English þerscan, Old English ðerscan, Old English þerscean, Old English þirsceð (3rd singular indicative), Old English ðyrcsan, late Old English ðerhsan, early Middle English þersche, early Middle English þershe, 1900s– thersh (Scottish (Roxburghshire)). OE Cynewulf Elene 358 Þa weregan neat, þe man daga gehwam drifeð and þirsceð, ongitaþ hira goddend, nales gnyrnwræcum feogað frynd hiera þe him fodder gifað.OE Wærferð tr. Gregory Dialogues (Corpus Cambr.) (1900) i. ii. 14 Þær hi ealle ongunnon heora hors mid heora sperescæftum þerscan.lOE Laws: Gerefa (Corpus Cambr.) xi. 454 Mænige inweorc wyrcean, ðerhsan, wudu cleofan, hryðeran styllan.c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 158 Þet sorhe þersche [?c1225 Cleo. þerschen, a1250 Nero þreossche, a1300 Caius þershe] inwið þe heorte. 1977 J. Y. Mather & H. H. Speitel Ling. Atlas Scotl. II. 172 To winnow (the process of separating chaff from grain), [Roxburgh] thersh. (b) Old English þrescan, Old English þrexan, Old English ðrysceð (3rd singular indicative), early Middle English þreosche, early Middle English þresce, Middle English ȝressche, Middle English threische, Middle English threisshe, Middle English þreisshe, Middle English thresche, Middle English þresche, Middle English threse, Middle English þressche, Middle English thresse, Middle English thressh, Middle English þresshe, Middle English tresche, Middle English tresse, Middle English–1500s threshe, Middle English–1500s thresshe, late Middle English dresshe, 1500s–1600s threash, 1500s–1600s tresh, 1500s–1600s tressh, 1500s– thresh. English regional 1800s dresh (south-western), 1900s threish (Cumberland). Welsh English (Pembrokeshire) 1800s dresh. Scottish pre-1700 threashe, pre-1700 threch, pre-1700 threis, pre-1700 threisch, pre-1700 threiss, pre-1700 thres, pre-1700 thresch, pre-1700 thresche, pre-1700 thressch, pre-1700 thressh, pre-1700 tresche, pre-1700 1700s–1800s thresh, 1800s– tresh (Shetland). N.E.D. (1912) also records forms Middle English threissch, 1500s draysche, 1500s drayse, 1500s tress. OE Aldhelm Glosses (Brussels 1650) in L. Goossens Old Eng. Glosses of MS Brussels, Royal Libr. 1650 (1974) 365 Triturandos : to þrescene [OE Digby 146 þrexene].a1425 Medulla Gram. (Stonyhurst) f. 67 Trituro, to þresshe [a1500 Harl. 1738 tressyn]. ▸ 1440 Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 492 Threschyn, trituro, flagello.?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 127^v To Tresche [1483 BL Add. 89074 Thresche], Triturare.a1500 Walter of Henley's Husbandry (Sloane) (1890) 50 Let your thresers be sworne to thresse it clene.1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 755/2 I thresshe corne in a barne.1550–1 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1911) IX. 477 Certane Franchemen to await on the taskaris trescheand the cornis of thame..that was fugitive.1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 95 Thay thresche na stuf.1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 269/1 Thresh not Wheat but as you Eat it.1782 W. Cowper Expostulation in Poems 302 Where flails of oratory thresh the floor.1899 W. W. Skeat in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1900) II. 156/2 [Berkshire] There's always a plenty of men to dresh.1976 R. Bulter Shaela 39 Da dockens tresh da barn door Laek tirn fok at's lockit oot.2016 C. E. Morgan Sport of Kings i. 36 A new combine..came to devour the acres, threshing its way through their fields.

β. Old English ðærsca (Northumbrian), Old English ðarsca (Northumbrian), Old English ðearsca (Northumbrian). OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Mark v. 5 Clamans et concidens se lapidibus : cliopende & falletande uel ðærscende hine to stanum.OE (Northumbrian) Rushw. Gospels: Mark xiv. 65 Coeperunt quidam..colaphis eum caedere : ongunnun sume..mið fystum hine sla uel ðarsca [OE Lindisf. Gospels geðearsca].

γ. Middle English throsche, Middle English throsh, Middle English þrossche, Middle English throsse, Middle English–1500s throsshe; English regional 1700s–1900s drosh, 1800s– throsh. 1327 [implied in: Subsidy Roll, Leicestershire in Associated Archit. Soc. Rep. & Papers (1888) 19 242 Joh'ne Throsshere. (at thresher n.¹ 1a)]. ▸ a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. ix. xvi. 532 Þerfore he is ipeynt wiþ a fleile þrossching corn.c1430 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1868) l. 536 He wolde throsche [c1405 Hengwrt thresshe] & þerto dyke & delue.1526 Bible (Tyndale) 1 Cor. ix. 10 He which throssheth in hope shulde be part taker of his hope.1535 Bible (Coverdale) Hab. iii. B Thou trodest downe the londe..and didest throsshe the Heithen.1800 [implied in: J. Larwood Norfolk Dial. (E.D.S. No. 76) 122 The stra that the throsher had hull'd down from the gofe in the barn. (at thresher n.¹ 1)].a1902 C. K. Paul in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1904) V. 551/2 [Dorset] The smiche nearly choked me when I was a-droshin chaff.1948 M. Carbery & E. Grey Herts. Heritage at Reap We use ter sow be 'and and rip be 'and and throsh wuth th' ol' frail.

δ. English regional 1900s thrush (Lincolnshire); Scottish 1800s thrush. 1807 J. Hogg Mountain Bard 93 Ding him owre, or thrush him down, He's a fause deceitfu' lown!1900 J. Good Gloss. Words East Lincs. 96 Thrush, to thrash.

2. Past tense. a. Strong. (i). 1st and 3rd singular indicative. (a) Old English þærsc, Old English ðærsc, Old English þearcs, Old English ðearx. OE Old Eng. Martyrol. (Julius) 7 Mar. (2013) 62 He..corn ðærsc ond þæt windwode.OE Prudentius Glosses (Auct. F.3.6) in A. S. Napier Old Eng. Glosses (1900) 212/1 Territat : þearcs. (b) late Old English þræsc (in prefixed forms). lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1009 Wind..þa scipo ða ealle tobeot & toþræsc.] (ii). Originally plural. (a) Old English þurcson, Old English þurhsun, Old English þurscon (in prefixed forms), Old English ðurscon (Northumbrian), Old English ðurscun (Northumbrian), Old English ðuurscon (Northumbrian, in prefixed forms), early Middle English þurscen. OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Mark xii. 5 Alios quosdam caedentes, alios uero occidentes : oðero sume ðurscun oðero æc ofslogon.OE West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) xxii. 64 Þa..oferwrugon hys ansyne & þurhsun [OE Cambr. Univ. Libr. þurcson, c1200 Hatton þurscen] his nebb. (b) early Middle English þrussschen (plural, perhaps transmission error), Middle English throsshen (plural). Scottish pre-1700 threwsche, pre-1700 thrusche, pre-1700 trewshe, 1700s–1800s thrush, 1800s threush, 1800s– throosh, 1800s– thruish, 1800s– treush (Orkney), 1900s troosh (Orkney), 1900s– threesh (north-eastern), 1900s– trüsh (Shetland). The Scots forms also represent the past tense of thrash v.a1400 Ancrene Riwle (Pepys) (1976) 13 Þi blisful son þat þe iewes þrussschen [perhaps read þrusschen] and duden to deþe.c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 43 Manye..throsshen it and fanned it.1624 in S. Ree Rec. Elgin (1908) II. 187 James Chalmer and Alexander Mitchell confessit they trewshe corne on Soonday last.1750 J. McCullough Jrnl. 12 July in K. Miller et al. Irish Immigrants in Land of Canaan (2003) 161 I..thrush flex July the - 12th.1818 G. Beattie John o' Arnha' (ed. 2) 33 He..threush on John as wi' a flail.1911 in A. W. Johnston & A. Johnston Old-lore Misc. IV. 68 He..tuik in his crap an' troosh hid.1987 A. Fenton in New Writing Scotl. 5 78 We ca'ed three loadies o' corn intae the barn in 'e mornin', an' syne we threesh.2007 S. Blackhall Quarry i. She throosh puir Pranny till there wisna a been on her back that didna dirl. (iii). New formation. Scottish pre-1700 thresche. 1607 in H. Paton Dundonald Parish Rec. (1936) 127 Alexander Houssoun..accuisit of thresshing on the Sonday denyit that he did sa him self and declairit it was Johne Houssoun, his brotheris wyfe, and hir madine that thresche. b. Weak.

α. Middle English threischide, Middle English thresched, Middle English threshide, 1500s threashed, 1500s– threshed, 1600s thresht; English regional (south-western) 1800s dreshed; also Scottish pre-1700 threschit. ▸ c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Amos i. 3 Thei threshiden [a1425 L.V. threischide] in yren waynes Galaad.c1425 (c1400) Laud Troy-bk. l. 16912 Echon on other dong & thresched.1560 Bible (Geneva) Judges vi. 11 Gideon threashed [1611 threshed] wheat.1577 R. Holinshed Chron. II. 639/1 Sundrie..came to theyr Barnes, threshed vp theyr grayne.c1600 Diurnal of Remarkable Occurrents (1833) 192 [They] threschit owt thair cornes.1778 Cervantes' Life & Exploits Don Quixote Abridged ii. 11 In spite of his armour he threshed him to chaff.1876 S. Baring-Gould Vicar of Morwenstow (ed. 3) vi. 163 I got quietly hold of a great big stone.., and I dreshed in amongst them all.1996 M. Cheek Sleeping Beauties xxvi. 194 She threshed about looking for a cool place on the pillow.

β. 1500s throszshed. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) 1 Chron. xxii. D Arnan throszshed wheate.

3. Past participle. a. Strong.

α. (a) Old English geðorscen (Northumbrian), Old English giðorscen (Northumbrian), early Middle English iþorchen, early Middle English iþorschen, early Middle English þorschen, early Middle English yþorsse. OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Luke xx. 10 Qui caesum dimiserunt eum inanem : ðaðe geðorscen forleorton hine idelhende.a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 85 In þe deie of liureisun hwense god almihtin wule windwin þet er wes iþorchen [emended in ed. to iþorschen].?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 141 Hende child. þe cusseð þe ȝerde þet he haueð ow wið wel þorschen [c1230 Corpus Cambr. iþorschen, a1250 Nero i þrosschen].c1350 Ayenbite (1866) App. 266 Vram þo lyȝte byeþ y-þorsse mine eȝen. (b) Old English þroxen (in prefixed forms (not ge-)), early Middle English þrosshenn ( Ormulum), Middle English iþrosschen, Middle English ithrosshen, Middle English þrossche, Middle English throssen, Middle English throsshe, Middle English þrosshe, Middle English throsshyn, Middle English throssyn, Middle English trosshyn, Middle English yþrosse, Middle English ythrosshen, 1500s throshen, 1500s throsshen. N.E.D. (1912) also records a form late Middle English throsshen. OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1900) II. 294 Heora æceras ær wæron aþroxene.] c1175 [implied in: Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 1530 Þa winndwesst tu þin þrosshenn corn. (at throshen adj.)]. ▸ a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. xxviii. 27 Forsothe not in sawes shal be throsshe gith.c1390 (c1350) Proprium Sanctorum in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1888) 81 83 Hit is brouht hom til a Berne, hard I-þrosschen in an hurne.1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints (Arun.) (1938) l. 8572 Nobyl greyn whete..be weel trosshyn & bete.1584 in J. Harland House & Farm Accts. Shuttleworths (1856) I. i. 21 When the same [corn] was throshen xiij^d.

β. Middle English ithresshe, Middle English þressche, Middle English thresshe, Middle English ythrysshe, 1500s threshoone, 1500s thresshen; Scottish pre-1700 threachin, pre-1700 threscheyne, pre-1700 threschin, pre-1700 threschine, pre-1700 threschyne, pre-1700 threshin, pre-1700 thresin, pre-1700 thressin, pre-1700 1700s– threshen, 1900s– treshen (Orkney and Shetland), 1900s– tröshin (Shetland); N.E.D. (1912) also records a form late Middle English thresshen. Sc. National Dict. (at Thrash) records this form type as still in use in the Northern Isles in 1972.c1460 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Oseney Abbey (1907) 144 Þen I and myne heyres schall make it [sc. grain] to Be thresshe.a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1906) ii. 649 The corn that is wonyd to be gyf I-thresshe.a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) l. 5412 Tyl the thressherys..Hadde thys greyn ythrysshe & bete.?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. ix Whan it is thresshen there is moche lyght corne.1599 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham (1889) IV. 251 All the corne..threshoone and vnthreshoone.1629 Orkney Witch Trial in County Folk-lore (1903) 3 77 Edward Rendall..said thair was nane [corn] threachin [emended in ed. to threaschin].1720 T. Boston Human Nature ii. 149 The Corn (or Son) of my Floor, threshen in the Floor of Wrath.c1920 A. Robb Memories of Mormondside (MS) in Sc. National Dict. (1960) V. 217/1 He hadna threshen twa fleers fan's supple fell oot owre's back.

γ. Scottish pre-1700 thruschine, 1800s throoshen, 1800s thrushen, 1900s thruishen; English regional (Yorkshire) 1800s thrushen. The forms also represent the past participle of thrash v. (compare quot. 1883).1643 in D. M. Hunter Court Bk. Barony & Regality of Falkirk & Callendar (1991) 36 Quhilkis aittis sould haue beine delyverit immediatlie efter the samyne could be thruschine.a1835 J. Hogg Tales & Sketches (1837) III. 230 Ye deserve to hae your banes weel throoshen.1853 W. Watson Poems 15 It's better thrushen, tap and tail, Than e'er I saw't yet wi' a flail.1883 T. Lees Easther's Gloss. Dial. Almondbury & Huddersfield Thrushen, past participle of to thrash, or thresh.1923 G. Watson Roxburghshire Word-bk. 32 Strong past pples.,..thruishen (thrashed).

b. Weak.

α. Middle English threischid, Middle English threschid, 1500s threshte, 1500s tressyd, 1500s–1700s thresht, 1500s– threshed; also Scottish pre-1700 thresched. ▸ a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Isa. xxv. 10 Threschid [altered from wynewid; a1425 L.V. threischid] shal ben moab vnder hym.?1538 in T. Wright Three Chapters Lett. Suppression Monasteries (1843) 176 Sum is threshte,..and mych is yit to threshe.1544 in I. S. Leadam Select Cases Court of Requests (1898) 76 The said Baylyf causyd the same pease to be tressyd.1550 M. Coverdale tr. O. Werdmueller Spyrytuall & Precyouse Pearle vii. sig. Dvij Whan the corne is threshed.1649 W. Bullock Virginia impartially Examined 38 It shalbe threshed or trodden out with Oxen.1773 J. Boswell Jrnl. 9 Sept. in Jrnl. Tour Hebrides (1785) 190 Meal..toasted by fire, instead of being threshed and kiln-dried.1891 J. C. Atkinson Forty Years Moorland Parish 65 The corn would be threshed, dressed, and sacked.2002 Austral. Financial Rev. (Sydney) 15 June 48/4 (heading) It's ideas that are threshed at the Welsh bookfair.

β. English regional (south-western) 1800s droshed. a1891 L. L. Bonaparte MS Coll. Dial. Words in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1900) II. 156/2 [Herefordshire] If ur wuz all droshed uz be in th' born.

See also thrash v.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.

Etymology: Cognate with West Frisian terskje , tarskje (strong and weak) to thresh (corn), Middle Dutch derscen , darscen , dorscen (strong and weak) to thresh (corn) (Dutch dorsen , (regional) dersen , darsen , now chiefly weak), Middle Low German derschen , darschen , dorschen (strong and weak) to thresh (corn) (German regional (Low German: Heidekreis) döschen , (Low German: East Friesland) dörsken ), Old High German dreskan (strong) to trample, crush, to thresh (corn) (Middle High German dreschen , German dreschen ), Old Icelandic þriskja , þryskva (weak) to thresh (corn) (Icelandic þreskja ), Old Swedish (in late sources) þriska , þryskia (strong) to thresh (corn) (Swedish tröska , now weak), Old Danish (in late sources) thærske (strong and weak) to thresh (corn) (Danish tærske , now weak except in regional use), Gothic þriskan (strong) to thresh (corn) < a Germanic base of uncertain origin, probably < a suffixed form of the Indo-European base of classical Latin terere to rub, to thresh (corn) by treading, to tread repeatedly (see throw v.¹). Forms with metathesis of r are found in English, Frisian, Dutch, Low German, and Danish. The Old Icelandic weak verb probably represents a secondary formation from the same Germanic base. The original meaning of the Germanic base was probably ‘to tread, step, pace’, as implied by the senses in which the Germanic word was borrowed into Romance; compare Old French, Middle French trescher, treschier to dance, to leap, to stamp (12th cent.), Old Occitan, Occitan trescar to leap, to dance, to caper (12th cent.), to move to and fro (a1225), Italian trescare to dance, to prance, caper, to stamp, trample, to thresh (corn) (12th cent., now archaic and regional in these senses), Catalan trescar to go about on foot, to go to and fro (14th cent.), to dance, to caper (15th cent.), Spanish triscar to prance, caper, to move to and fro (a1246), to dance (c1385, now obsolete), to stamp, kick (18th cent.).Sense development in Germanic. It is assumed that the Germanic word in its original sense ‘to tread, step, pace’ came to be applied specifically to the act of treading out corn by foot or by the hooves of oxen or other draught animals, and thus to the action of threshing by this or any later method. This is the primary sense in all the attested Germanic languages. Within historical times the chief mode of threshing was beating with the flail, whence the word came to be applied figuratively to knocking, beating, or striking generally, and especially of a person in battle or in punishment. In English this appears already in the Old English period (compare sense branch II.). Possible further cognates. A formal parallel of the Germanic base is apparently shown (with various ablaut grades) by Lithuanian trėkšti to squeeze, press, to milk, traškinti to crunch, to munch, triuškinti to crush, also by Old Russian trěskati to make a noise, to thunder, trěsk′′ , troska (both nouns) thunderclap, troskot′′ (noun) crackle, crash, Russian treskat′sja (reflexive) to crack, to burst, Lithuanian treškėti , traškėti to crackle, and perhaps also Tocharian A trisk- to roar, resound. However, the relationship of these sets of words to each other and to the Germanic base is unclear. Form history: (i) Old English. In Old English a strong verb of Class III, typically with metathesis of r (þerscan, beside unmetathesized þrescan). The majority of attested forms show metathesis (see e.g. Forms 1α(a)); some also show metathesis of /sk/ to /ks/ (compare ðyrcsan at Forms 1α(a), þrexan at Forms 1α(b)). Forms without metathesis of r (see e.g. Forms 1α(b)) may have been reinforced by Scandinavian influence. Unmetathesized forms become the norm in Middle English, completely superseding the metathesized forms (occasional metathesized forms in modern regional varieties probably show a recurrent independent formation). The stem vowel of Old English (Northumbrian) ðærsca (see Forms 1β. ) is best explained as showing the influence of the stem of the past tense singular (a development seen in other strong verbs in Northumbrian; compare A. Campbell Old Eng. Gram. (1959) §327, and also parallel developments in Frisian, Dutch, and Low German); the form ðearsca exhibits analogical breaking, while the precise origin of the stem vowel in the clearly related ðarsca is uncertain. Form history: (ii) Middle English and later developments. A further levelling of the stem vowel of the past tense and past participle is seen in the new present stem form type throsh (see Forms 1γ. ), frequent in late Middle English (and also paralleled in Frisian, Dutch, and Low German); compare also the later thrush (see Forms 1δ. ). The Older Scots past tense form thresh (see Forms 2a(iii)) shows a levelling in the opposite direction. For the development of the important form type thrash , see discussion at thrash v. The strong inflection is continued in Middle English and Older Scots, and survives in some varieties of Scots (now chiefly northern and insular; the strong past participle has a somewhat wider distribution, as it is retained in some varieties even when the inflection is otherwise weak). Weak forms are attested from the late 14th cent., and quickly come to predominate in both the standard language and the majority of regional varieties (similarly, in most of the other Germanic languages, with the exception of German, the verb has largely become weak). In all current senses of branches II. and III. the usual form of the word in the standard language is now thrash v.; the use of thrash as a regional variant of thresh v. in senses of branch I. (in which it remains in widespread use) is also treated at that entry. Prefixed forms. In Old English the (Northumbrian) prefixed form geþearsca to strike, beat (compare y- prefix) is also attested; compare also aþerscan to beat down (compare a- prefix¹), beþerscan to beat down (compare be- prefix), forþerscan to beat down, to devastate (compare for- prefix¹), tōþerscan to dash to pieces (compare to- prefix²).

I. To separate the grain of a cereal crop from the husks and straw, and related senses.

a. transitive. To separate the grain of (a cereal crop) from the husks and straw by any of various methods, such as by shaking, trampling, beating with a flail, or (later) by means of a combine harvester or similar machine. Sometimes also: to separate the seed of (a pulse) in the same way. Cf. to thresh out 1 at Phrasal verbs.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of grain > [verb (transitive)] > thresh

threshOE

tread1382

stampa1425

berry1483

fine1579

thrash1594

to beat out1611

flack1743

cob1796

flail1821

scutch1844

strip1861

OE Old Eng. Martyrol. (Julius) 7 Mar. (2013) 62 He..corn ðærsc ond þæt windwode.

c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 1500 Þa þresshesst tu þin corn wiþþ fleȝȝl.

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 139 Of þe hyeape of huete y-þorsse, þe cornes byeþ beneþe and þet chef a-boue.

c1450 J. Lydgate Secrees (Sloane 2464) l. 1436 Afftir hervest..men thresshe shevys.

1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 95 Thay thresche na stuf.

1619 in G. Ornsby Select. from Househ. Bks. Naworth Castle (1878) 91 For threshing and dighting v bushells and a peck of wheat.

1649 W. Bullock Virginia impartially Examined 38 There needs be no trouble of carting till it [sc. Corne] be threshed, for it shalbe threshed or trodden out with Oxen in the Field.

1710 H. Prideaux Orig. & Right Tithes ii. 76 Corn Threshed, Winnowed, and Dressed.

1845 R. Ford Hand-bk. Travellers in Spain I. i. 25 The modern system of threshing grain in Spain is extremely ancient, classical, and Oriental.

1880 W. Newton Serm. for Boys & Girls (1881) 219 He had a number of men engaged in threshing wheat.

1968 E. R. Buckler Ox Bells & Fireflies vi. 101 Yellow-eyed soldier beans to be threshed on the barn floor with the leather-jointed flail.

1987 W. M. Reid in 3rd Statist. Acct. Scotl. XIII. 119 Now our oats are reaped, threshed and bagged on the field in one operation by combine harvesting machines.

2007 Daily Mail (Nexis) 6 Jan. 22 Memories of sowing and reaping, of threshing the corn and reeking the hay.

b. intransitive. To separate the grain of a cereal crop from the husks and straw by any of various methods, such as by shaking, trampling, beating with a flail, or (later) by means of a combine harvester or similar machine.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of grain > [verb (intransitive)] > thresh

threshOE

thrash1364

OE Antwerp-London Gloss. (2011) 84 Area, breda þiling uel flor on to þerscenne.

lOE Laws: Gerefa (Corpus Cambr.) xi. 454 Mænige inweorc wyrcean, ðerhsan, wudu cleofan, hryðeran styllan.

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Micah iv. 13 Ryse thou, and threshe, douȝter of Syon.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 4744 Ioseph þat was ful o pite Did thresche [Fairf., Trin. Cambr. þresshe; Gött. threches] son in þat contre.

1566 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1877) 1st Ser. I. 460 His barneman being threscheand and laubourand sark allane.

1607 in H. Paton Dundonald Parish Rec. (1936) 127 Alexander Houssoun..accuisit of thresshing on the Sonday denyit that he did sa him self and declairit it was Johne Houssoun, his brotheris wyfe, and hir madine that thresche.

1846 J. A. Alexander Earlier Prophecies Isaiah xxviii. 488 The husbandman ploughs and harrows, sows and plants, before he reaps and threshes.

1911 Threshermen's Rev. May 22/2 (advt.) It [sc. the tractor] plows, discs, seeds, harrows, threshes and hauls.

2013 K. E. Drexler Radical Abundance iv. 44 The spread of mechanization served agriculture directly as it advanced from horse-drawn reapers that cut wheat in the mid-nineteenth century to tractor-driven machines and then combines in the twentieth century, reaping, threshing, and winnowing.

2. transitive and intransitive. In various uses with figurative reference to the process or action of threshing or harvesting a crop.

ΚΠ

OE Aldhelm Glosses (Brussels 1650) in L. Goossens Old Eng. Glosses of MS Brussels, Royal Libr. 1650 (1974) 365 [Sanctae messis manipulos..in area tortoris] triturandos : to þrescene.

a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 85 In þe deie of liureisun hwense god almihtin wule windwin þet er wes iþorchen [emended in ed. to iþorschen].

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Isa. xxv. 10 Threschid [altered from wynewid] shal ben moab vnder hym: as ben to-troden strawis in a wayn.

1633 P. Fletcher Purple Island xi. xxiv. 151 She..Drove farre their flying troops, & thresht with iron flail.

1857 E. B. Pusey Real Presence (1869) i. 144 Bruick said,..‘as to the King himself it was to thresh an empty ear’.

1909 Amer. Mag. Dec. 166/2 As for Machinery [sc. a poem] I'll thresh that o'er With flails of mind.

1998 Investors Chron. (Nexis) 30 Oct. 26 I always start with a company health check... It's just a starting point; a way of threshing the chaff. There's still plenty of milling to do thereafter.

3. intransitive. With adverb, as well, easily, etc. Of a crop: to be threshed, to be capable of being threshed (sense 1a).

ΚΠ

a1722 E. Lisle Observ. Husbandry (1752) 208 It [sc. wheat]..will come out of the straw and thresh very well.

1766 Compl. Farmer at Threshing Beans and peas always thresh best after they have sweated in the mow.

1852 F. Lancelott Austral. as it Is I. vi. 115 Frome's wheat..cannot be recommended, for, although it stands up well when ripe, it threshes badly.

1909 Naracoorte (Austral.) Herald 5 Jan. Federation wheat..is a deceiving yielder, and although it will not shake it threshes wonderfully easy.

1930 U.S. Dept. Agric. Inventory 95 17/1 It ripens about 10 or 12 days earlier than No. 1, does not fall down so quickly, and threshes well.

2018 Corn & Soybean Digest 28 Sept. Soybeans can be harvested as soon as seeds are mature and foliage is dry, but seed above 18% moisture does not thresh well.

II. To hit or strike; to defeat. Cf. thrash v. II.

†4.

a. transitive. To hit or strike (a person or thing); to knock down. Also figurative with reference to inflicting emotional pain. Obsolete.With quot. a1250, cf. quot. ?c1225 at sense 4b.

ΚΠ

eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xxi. 161 Send ðærto gefylcio, & ðerscað ðone weall mid rammum.

OE (Northumbrian) Liturgical Texts (Durham Ritual) in A. H. Thompson & U. Lindelöf Rituale Ecclesiae Dunelmensis (1927) 6 Sic pugno non quasi æram [read aerem] uerberans : suæ ic fehto no suoelce lyft ðerscende.

a1250 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Nero) (1952) 138 He..hat ðet seoruwe þreos-sche him wiðinne ðe heorte.

c1350 Ayenbite (1866) App. 266 Vram þo lyȝte byeþ y-þorsse mine eȝen.

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 1326 He laschis out a lange swerde..Threschis doun in a thrawe many threuyn dukis.

1531 G. Joye tr. Prophete Isaye xli. sig. K.vi To thresshe downe mountayns & to bete them into poulder.

b. intransitive. To hit or strike a person or thing. Also (and in earliest use) figurative with reference to inflicting emotional pain. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 228 He..hat þet soreȝe þerschen [read þersche; c1230 Corpus Cambr. þersche] inwið þe heorte wið sar bi reowsunge.

c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 2300 Wy, þresch on, þou þro mon, þou þreteȝ to longe.

c1425 (c1400) Laud Troy-bk. l. 16912 (MED) Echon on other dong & thresched.

a. transitive. To hit or beat (a person or animal) repeatedly and violently, esp. as a punishment, usually with an implement such as a stick or whip. Also figurative and in extended use with reference to non-physical punishments or afflictions. Cf. thrash v. 2a. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > punishment > corporal punishment > administer corporal punishment [verb (transitive)] > beat

threshOE

beatc1000

to lay on?c1225

chastise1362

rapa1400

dressc1405

lack?c1475

paya1500

currya1529

coil1530

cuff1530

baste1533

thwack1533

lick1535

firka1566

trounce1568

fight1570

course1585

bumfeage1589

feague1589

lamback1589

lambskin1589

tickle1592

thrash1593

lam1595

bumfeagle1598

comb1600

fer1600

linge1600

taw1600

tew1600

thrum1604

feeze1612

verberate1614

fly-flap1620

tabor1624

lambaste1637

feak1652

flog1676

to tan (a person's) hide1679

slipper1682

liquora1689

curry-comb1708

whack1721

rump1735

screenge1787

whale1790

lather1797

tat1819

tease1819

larrup1823

warm1824

haze1825

to put (a person) through a course of sprouts1839

flake1841

swish1856

hide1875

triangle1879

to give (a person or thing) gyp1887

soak1892

to loosen (a person's) hide1902

the world > movement > impact > striking > beating or repeated striking > beat [verb (transitive)] > specifically a person

to-beatc893

threshOE

bustc1225

to lay on or upon?c1225

berrya1250

to-bunea1250

touchc1330

arrayc1380

byfrapc1380

boxc1390

swinga1400

forbeatc1420

peal?a1425

routa1425

noddlea1450

forslinger1481

wipe1523

trima1529

baste1533

waulk1533

slip1535

peppera1550

bethwack1555

kembc1566

to beat (a person) black and blue1568

beswinge1568

paik1568

trounce1568

canvass1573

swaddle?1577

bebaste1582

besoop1589

bumfeage1589

dry-beat1589

feague1589

lamback1589

clapperclaw1590

thrash1593

belam1595

lam1595

beswaddle1598

bumfeagle1598

belabour1600

tew1600

flesh-baste1611

dust1612

feeze1612

mill1612

verberate1614

bethumpa1616

rebuke1619

bemaul1620

tabor1624

maula1627

batterfang1630

dry-baste1630

lambaste1637

thunder-thump1637

cullis1639

dry-banga1640

nuddle1640

sauce1651

feak1652

cotton1654

fustigate1656

brush1665

squab1668

raddle1677

to tan (a person's) hide1679

slam1691

bebump1694

to give (a person) his load1694

fag1699

towel1705

to kick a person's butt1741

fum1790

devel1807

bray1808

to beat (also scare, etc.) someone's daylights out1813

mug1818

to knock (a person) into the middle of next week1821

welt1823

hidea1825

slate1825

targe1825

wallop1825

pounce1827

to lay into1838

flake1841

muzzle1843

paste1846

looder1850

frail1851

snake1859

fettle1863

to do over1866

jacket1875

to knock seven kinds of —— out of (a person)1877

to take apart1880

splatter1881

to beat (knock, etc.) the tar out of1884

to —— the shit out of (a person or thing)1886

to do up1887

to —— (the) hell out of1887

to beat — bells out of a person1890

soak1892

to punch out1893

stoush1893

to work over1903

to beat up1907

to punch up1907

cream1929

shellac1930

to —— the bejesus out of (a person or thing)1931

duff1943

clobber1944

to fill in1948

to bash up1954

to —— seven shades of —— out of (a person or thing)1976

to —— seven shades out of (a person or thing)1983

beast1990

becurry-

fan-

OE (Northumbrian) Liturgical Texts (Durham Ritual) in A. H. Thompson & U. Lindelöf Rituale Ecclesiae Dunelmensis (1927) 43 Qui iuste uerberas peccatores : ða ðe uel ðu ðe rehtlice ðu ðersces synfullo.

OE Old Eng. Martyrol. (Julius) 20 Jan. (2013) 52 Ða het he hine mid stengum ðyrcsan oð þæt he his gast onsende.

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 141 Hende child. þe cusseð þe ȝerde þet he haueð ow wið wel þorschen.

a1400 Ancrene Riwle (Pepys) (1976) 13 (MED) Lefdy seint Marie, for þat ilch mychel blisse þat þou haddest þo þou seiȝ þi blisful son þat þe iewes þrussschen [perhaps read þrusschen] and duden to deþe & wenden haue wrouȝth wiþ hym.

c1450 (a1375) Octavian (Calig.) (1979) l. 764 (MED) Wyth a staf y woll þe þressche.

1570 T. Tusser Hundreth Good Pointes Husbandry (new ed.) f. 36 At shroftide to shrouing, go thresh the fatte henne.

1647 J. Trapp Comm. Epist. & Rev. 366 Gideon by threshing the men of Succoth, taught them [etc.].

1807 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life II. xxi. 282 Learning to box, too—i.e. feeing a great raw-boned fellow to thresh you as long as he can stand over you.

1992 W. Humphrey September Song 40 He grabbed the woman's stick from her and threshed her with it.

b. transitive. To inflict a heavy defeat on (an army, nation, enemy, etc.) in a conflict or battle; to defeat (an opponent) easily or decisively in a game, competition, or other contest; = thrash v. 3. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > victory > make victorious [verb (transitive)] > conquer or overcome

overcomeeOE

shendc893

awinc1000

overwinOE

overheaveOE

to lay downa1225

mate?c1225

discomfitc1230

win1297

dauntc1300

cumber1303

scomfit1303

fenkc1320

to bear downc1330

confoundc1330

confusec1330

to do, put arrear1330

oversetc1330

vanquishc1330

conquerc1374

overthrowc1375

oppressc1380

outfighta1382

to put downa1382

discomfortc1384

threshc1384

vencuea1400

depressc1400

venque?1402

ding?a1425

cumrayc1425

to put to (also at, unto) the (also one's) worsec1425

to bring or put to (or unto) utterance1430

distrussc1430

supprisec1440

ascomfita1450

to do stress?c1450

victorya1470

to make (win) a conquest1477

convanquish1483

conquest1485

defeat1485

oversailc1485

conques1488

discomfish1488

fulyie1488

distress1489

overpress1489

cravent1490

utter?1533

to give (a person) the overthrow1536

debel1542

convince1548

foil1548

out-war1548

profligate1548

proflige?c1550

expugnate1568

expugn1570

victor1576

dismay1596

damnify1598

triumph1605

convict1607

overman1609

thrash1609

beat1611

debellate1611

import1624

to cut to (or in) pieces1632

maitrise1636

worst1636

forcea1641

outfight1650

outgeneral1767

to cut up1803

smash1813

slosh1890

ream1918

hammer1948

the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > mastery or superiority > have or gain mastery or superiority over [verb (transitive)] > overcome or defeat > soundly

threshc1384

to knock the socks offa1529

thump1597

thrash1609

thwacka1616

capot1649

to beat to snuff1819

to knock into a cocked hat1830

to —— (the) hell out of1833

sledgehammer1834

rout1835

whop1836

skin1838

whip-saw1842

to knock (the) spots off1850

to make mincemeat of1853

to mop (up) the floor with1875

to beat pointless1877

to lick into fits1879

to take apart1880

to knock out1883

wax1884

contund1885

to give (a person) fits1885

to wipe the floor with1887

flatten1892

to knock (someone) for six1902

slaughter1903

slather1910

to hit for six1937

hammer1948

whomp1952

bulldozer1954

zilch1957

shred1966

tank1973

slam-dunk1975

beast1977

society > leisure > sport > winning, losing, or scoring > win, lose, or score [verb (transitive)] > win > defeat

overplayc1460

smother1676

lurch1678

outplay1702

thrash1789

defeat1830

spreadeagle1832

thresh1852

whitewash1867

blank1870

annihilate1886

nip1893

slam1907

plaster1919

skittle1919

rip1927

maul1928

demolish1938

massacre1940

trounce1942

hammer1948

murder1952

to shut out1952

zilch1957

zip1964

trip1974

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Amos i. 3 Thei threshiden [a1425 L.V. threischide] in yren waynes Galaad.

1721 N. Amhurst Terræ-filius No. 13. (1754) 66 They could either thresh corn, or their country's enemies.

1837 Perth Gaz. 16 Sept. 974/3 If we had really—not on paper, but in fact and deed—soundly threshed the Kafirs in the last war, we might have long enjoyed peace.

1852 Hogg's Instructor New Ser. 9 116/1 A parcel of silly women, who ‘were all good for nothing but to be threshed at chess.’

1911 News-Democrat (Canton, Ohio) 29 Oct. 6/1 The bigotry and fanaticism of an overgrown aristocracy, recently soundly threshed by a small race of brown men.

1967 San Antonio (Texas) Express 27 Sept. 6/1 The Arabs were soundly threshed in the brief war.

a. transitive. To strike at (something) with a whipping or flailing action. Cf. thrash v. 2b.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > impact > striking > beating or repeated striking > beat [verb (transitive)] > as a flail

thresh1628

thrash1638

1628 W. Struther Christian Observ. & Resol. lx. 154 Hee beateth the aire, and thresheth the water, who walketh without these considerations.

1707 J. Stevens tr. F. de Quevedo Comical Wks. (1709) R ij Condemn'd to thresh the Sea, that is to the Gallies.

1872 F. Francis Bk. Angling (ed. 3) v. 145 The angler goes on threshing the water.

1882 Med. Times 17 June 623/1 Rushing round the room and threshing the air with his broken arm.

2009 P. Nichols Final Voy. xi. 173 He raised a gigantic tail on high, threshing the water from side to side until the surrounding see was white with froth.

b. intransitive. With at (also †on). To strike at (a person or thing) with a whipping or flailing action.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > impact > striking > beating or repeated striking > beat [verb (intransitive)] > like a flail

thresh1818

1818 G. Beattie John o' Arnha' (ed. 2) 33 He scourg'd the water wi' his tail, An' threush on John as wi' a flail.

1905 F. Young Sands of Pleasure iii. ii Richard..walked out of the graveyard, threshing at the nettles with his stick.

2007 M. Condon Trout Opera (2010) lii. 475 Wilfred threshed at the flames between the lake and the carriageway.

III. Other extended uses, chiefly relating to strenuous or violent movement. Cf. thrash v. III.

7. transitive. To work at or go over (something) thoroughly or repeatedly; to belabour; (now) esp. to discuss or argue about (a matter, problem, etc.) exhaustively. Also intransitive. Usually with adverb or prepositional phrase. Cf. thrash v. 5.See also to thresh out 2 at Phrasal verbs, to thresh (over) straw at Phrases 2.

ΚΠ

1734 J. Clarke Diss. upon Usefulness of Transl. Classick Authors 16 Men educated to Letters, who have threshed hard at Latin for nine or ten Years together, are oftentimes very deficient in their own Language.

1781 D. Garrick in R. B. Sheridan School for Scandal (new ed.) Prol. All night at cards, when threshing Strong tea and scandal.

1895 Amer. Hist. Reg. June 1109 It is the part of wisdom and good judgment to have the matter threshed over as to what size of book, what form of publication, [etc.].

1982 P. Anderson New Amer. (1984) 251 They have been threshing the matter this whole night.

2002 W. G. B. Carson & W. C. Carson Peter becomes Trail Man x. 125 The question was threshed over for hours.

a. intransitive. Frequently with about or around. Of a person or animal: to fling the body or limbs around with wild or violent movements; (of something affected by severe winds, weather, etc.) to toss or plunge wildly; to lash; = thrash v. 4a(a).

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in specific manner > irregular movement or agitation > move irregularly or be agitated [verb (intransitive)] > roll or tumble about

wevea1300

wallow1362

walterc1400

wentle1481

tumble1549

thrash1821

thresh1823

1823 Missouri Republican 27 Aug. He kicked and threshed about a little.

1891 R. Kipling Light that Failed xiii. 244 The red-haired girl threshed distressfully across the sheets.

1897 S. R. Crockett Lads' Love xxiii. 234 The wind unloosed the banded hair and blew it about her eyes, till it threshed in the man's face and annoyed him.

1950 S. J. Perelman Swiss Family Perelman vii. 116 As I threshed around on its rope springs..I was ready to trade all Tartary for a standard box mattress.

2019 @MoondriftMusing 3 Jan. in twitter.com (accessed 6 Apr. 2021) [In response to Do you dive?] Not now. I had a buddy who would thresh about, cramp up and stress me out too much.

b. transitive. To move (the limbs, head, body, etc.) in a wild or violent manner; = thrash v. 4a(b).

ΚΠ

1878 G. C. Graham School Dialogues for Young People 123 They tie Mr. Jones' legs, Dinah holding his head while he struggles and threshes his arms about.

1991 A. Kenny Before Wax Hardened vi. 69 He hung halfway up the white fall, threshing his tail and beating his gill fins like wings, but fell back down into the foam.

2009 Fantasy & Sci. Fiction Apr. 185 He took the cable ring in his hands and, threshing his legs, swam the bathysphere over onto its side.

9. intransitive. Nautical. To advance with difficulty against strong wind, waves, etc. Also transitive: to force (a vessel) to move forwards, esp. against strong wind, waves, etc. Cf. thrash v. 6.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > travel by water > directing or managing a ship > use of wind > avail oneself of a wind [verb (intransitive)] > strive or make way against wind

laveer1598

to weather it on1599

beat1677

to beat up1720

to weather along1836

thrash1855

thresh1857

society > travel > travel by water > directing or managing a ship > use of wind > get into the current of the wind [verb (transitive)] > force ship against wind or sea

beat1839

thrash1858

thresh1886

1857 Ld. Dufferin Lett. from High Latitudes v. 28 We had to return..to our old practice of threshing to windward.

1886 Daily Tel. 23 Apr. 2/1 The captain threshes his great structure through the deep.

1938 Cornhill Mag. Sept. 341 The gale would die away ready for a change in its direction, and permit the setting of more canvas with which to thresh the ship to westward.

1981 Guardian 8 Aug. 12/8 Hot thick soup..handed up straight from the galley, the boat threshing to windward in a force 6, everything driving and waves sliding by to a touch on the helm.

†10. transitive (reflexive). Of a machine, engine, etc.: to get into a specified condition by working extremely hard. Cf. thrash v. 7. Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

1866 H. Bushnell Vicarious Sacrifice iii. v. 327 A broken engine can not mend itself by running, will only thresh itself into a more complete wreck.

1925 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 9 Feb. 6/3 (advt.) Does not thresh itself to pieces. Its direct motor makes only one revolution to stitch instead of the usual five or ten.

Phrases

P1. to be threshed with your own flail: see flail n. 1b.

P2. to thresh (over) straw and variants: to work at something that is unproductive or unprofitable; to revisit or spend more time on something that has already been resolved or completed. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > creation > productiveness > unproductiveness > be unproductive [verb (intransitive)]

to lie at a stand1622

to thresh (over) straw1844

1844 R. Whately Elements Logic (ed. 8) Pref. p. xi Our ancestors..contented themselves with vainly threshing over and over the same straw.

1871 B. Taylor tr. J. W. von Goethe Faust I. iv. 88 Why plague thyself with threshing straw for ever?

1890 Congregationalist (Boston, Mass.) 1 May 9/2 He did not waste his genius in threshing over old straw, but grappled energetically with the urgent problems of his own day.

1891 Proc. 5th Ann. Convent. Western Assoc. Writers 1890 16 At the risk of seeming to thresh straw, I am constrained—following the example of my predecessors—to speak.

1916 H. B. Rankin Personal Recoll. A. Lincoln 144 It irritated him, he said, to thresh over straw a second time.

1946 Times 7 Jan. 9/3 It [sc. the President's address] did little more, as the public saw it, than thresh over old straw.

Phrasal verbs

With adverbs in specialized senses. to thresh out

1. transitive. To separate the grain of (a cereal crop) from the husks and straw by any of various methods, such as by shaking, trampling, beating with a flail, or (later) by means of a combine harvester or similar machine. Sometimes also: to separate the seed of (a pulse) in the same way.Also with the grain, seed, etc., as direct object.

ΚΠ

a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Judges vi. 11 Gedeon..threischide out [E.V. a1382 Bodl. 959 shekede out, a1425 Corpus Oxf. shockide out], and purgide wheetis in a pressour.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Micah iv. C Therfore get the vp (o thou doughter Sion) and throsshe out the corne.

1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Compl. Gard'ner ii. vi. iii. 163 Cutting off all the Seed stems, and when they are dried, threshing out the Seed.

1762 J. Mills New Syst. Pract. Husbandry I. 448 Millet, either green, or after its grain is threshed out, is very good fodder for cattle.

1949 National Geographic Mag. Sept. 331/2 ‘Viners’ that thresh out the peas were working day and night.

2008 T. Volk CO2 Rising ii. 20 The harvester chopped down the stalk [of barley].., automatically threshed out the seed heads, and conveyed them into a giant hopper at the rear.

2. transitive. figurative. To discuss (a matter) thoroughly in order to reach a decision, consensus, or conclusion; to arrive at (an agreement, plan, etc.) after a great deal of discussion or argument; = to thrash out 2 at thrash v. Phrasal verbs.In quot. 1805 referring to critiquing a book.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > testing > debate, disputation, argument > hold discussions about, debate [verb (transitive)] > exhaustively

beat1470

hammer1594

extund1610

crasha1670

to thresh out1805

to thrash out1829

to hash out1916

1805 J. Montgomery Let. 14 Oct. in J. Holland & J. Everett Mem. Life & Writings J. Montgomery (1855) II. 108 What apology can I offer for not threshing out the ‘Memoirs of Warton’, since I remained at home all the week?

1885 Law Rep.: Chancery Div. 29 810 That point had been threshed out before Mr. Justice Pearson.

1893 Spectator 18 Mar. 349 The matter should have been thoroughly threshed out.

2013 StarStudio July 82/3 It became evident that Jessica was not ready to talk to Vice just yet. She begged off from threshing things out with him over the phone.

Derivatives

threshed adj. that has undergone threshing; (of grain) separated by means of threshing.Cf. earlier throshen adj., threshen adj.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of grain > [adjective] > threshed

threshen1482

berried1557

threshed1613

1613 W. Browne Britannia's Pastorals I. iv. 83 Next commeth Autumne, when the threshed sheafe Looseth his graine, and euery tree his leafe.

1908 Daily Mail 6 Apr. 6/5 Wagoners..take the threshed corn to the nearest town.

2007 A. McDonald Hist. Ecol. Grassland Upper Thames Valley vi. 87/1 White darnel (Lolium temulentum)..is an introduced annual weed of cereal crops and threshed grain.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	thresh
释义	threshn.¹ Brit. /θrɛʃ/, U.S. /θrɛʃ/ Forms: late Middle English thress, 1800s– thresh. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: thresh v. Etymology: < thresh v. Compare later thrash n.Compare Old English geþersc beating, whipping (cognate with or similarly formed to Old High German gidresk threshing (Middle High German gedresche , German Gedresch ) < the Germanic base of y- prefix + the Germanic base of thresh v.; compare (from the latter base) unprefixed Old High German dreska threshing (German Dresche, now archaic)). †1. Threshed grain, straw. Cf. thrash n. 1b. Obsolete. ΚΠ c1465 in C. L. Kingsford Stonor Lett. & Papers (1919) I. 68 (MED) The said parson yeed to Oxonford and graunted to Williham Harries a dayes thress off straw off the same for ix d., And he..wold not let him have it after under xvj d. a daies thress. 2. a. The action or sound of something striking another thing vigorously, or moving wildly or violently; thrashing, lashing. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > impact > striking > [noun] > a stroke or blow dintc897 swengOE shutec1000 kill?c1225 swipc1275 stroke1297 dentc1325 touchc1325 knock1377 knalc1380 swapc1384 woundc1384 smitinga1398 lush?a1400 sowa1400 swaipa1400 wapc1400 smita1425 popc1425 rumbelowc1425 hitc1450 clope1481 rimmel1487 blow1488 dinga1500 quartera1500 ruska1500 tucka1500 recounterc1515 palta1522 nolpc1540 swoop1544 push1561 smot1566 veny1578 remnant1580 venue1591 cuff1610 poltc1610 dust1611 tank1686 devel1787 dunching1789 flack1823 swinge1823 looder1825 thrash1840 dolk1861 thresh1863 mace-blow1879 pulsation1891 nosebleeder1921 slosh1936 smackeroo1942 dab- 1863 W. Pittenger Daring & Suffering xvi. 285 Our hearts beat glad music to the thresh of the wheels on the water, knowing that each ponderous stroke was placing a greater distance between us and our hated enemies. 1899 S. R. Crockett Black Douglas xlii. 305 The thresh of the rain upon the lattice casement. 1902 J. Masefield Salt-water Ballads 78 The wash and thresh of the sea-foam. 2007 G. Harding Solitude of Thomas Cave i. 4 The creak of the ship herself as she moved, the thresh of ropes as they were caught in the wind. b. In reduplicated form thresh-thresh. A repeated action or sound of something striking another thing vigorously, or moving wildly or violently. ΚΠ 1904 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Apr. 485 A rhythmic thresh-thresh that had accompanied but hardly broken the silence, suddenly ceased. 1985 R. Braddon River Journeys 165 All this time there was the thresh-thresh, thresh-thresh of our twin paddle-wheels and the well-oiled beat of the engine. 3. Nautical. An act or instance of sailing a vessel against strong wind, waves, etc.; = thrash n. 3. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > travel > travel by water > directing or managing a ship > use of wind > [noun] > beating against the wind busking1705 thrash1866 thresh1868 beating1883 1868 Bell's Life in London 5 Sept. 6/1 All [boats] got snug before rounding the lightship, and taking a thresh to windward. 1898 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 376 It was a long monotonous thresh for the rest of the afternoon. 1969 A. Rose My Lively Lady (1978) xi. 86 We headed south-west against a stiff, southerly wind... I could have done without this severe thresh to windward at this stage of the voyage. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021). threshn.² Brit. /θrɛʃ/, U.S. /θrɛʃ/, Scottish English /θrɛʃ/ Forms: α. 1600s thrush. β. Chiefly western. 1700s– thrash. γ. Chiefly east central and southern. 1800s– thresh. Origin: Apparently a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: rush n.¹ Etymology: Apparently a variant of rush n.¹ (compare forms at that entry).With the variation between thr- and r- compare Scots thrapple, variant of rapple to work in a hurried and careless manner, to mend (a garment) hurriedly and badly, (of vegetation) to grow up rapidly and wildly (1818 or earlier). The origin of the variation probably lies in the phonetic realization of initial thr- as voiceless r- in some varieties of southern and central Scots. Scottish. A rush (the marshland or waterside plant: see rush n.¹ 1a). Now rare.Recorded earliest in thresh-bush n. at Compounds. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > reedy or aquatic grasses > [noun] > rush and related plants rusheOE sharp rushc1050 seave14.. junk?a1425 candle-rushc1440 rush1562 sea-rush1562 camel's-straw1578 mat-rush1578 sprot1595 frog grass1597 matweed1597 rush grass1597 sprata1600 spart1614 bumble1633 toad-grass1640 moss-rush1670 thresha1689 spreta1700 bog rush1760 black grassa1763 goose-corn1762 toad-rush1776 wood-rush1776 stool-bent1777 scrub-grass1811 beak-rush1830 salt-weed1836 wiwi1840 thread rush1861 three-leaved rush1861 kill-cow1898 a1689 W. Cleland Coll. Poems (1697) 30 Their bare preaching now, Makes the thrush bush keep the Cow. 1725 in W. Hector Judicial Rec. Renfrewshire (1876) 120 The Compl[aine]rs servants did cutt and Shear the thrashes. a1813 A. Wilson Poems & Lit. Prose (1876) II. 335 Green thrashes were strewed on the floor. 1852 Hogg's Instructor New Ser. 9 34/1 The ‘flats’ (level places) are mostly composed of extensive peat bogs edged with ‘threshes’ (rushes). 1927 J. Buchan Witch Wood xx. 353 He's a dwaibly body wi' nae mair fushion than a thresh. 1964 D. Stephen Sc. Wild Life 172 The nest in the photograph was in a patch of threshes near a burn. 1988 Scotsman 21 May in Sc. National Dict. New Suppl. (Electronic text) at Thrash A big vole..appeared on the other side of the burn running the water's edge, and disappeared into the threshes. Compounds thresh-bush n. a rush; (also) a clump of rushes. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > reedy or aquatic grasses > [noun] > rush and related plants > bed or clump of rushes or rushy corner rush busha1425 flag-bed1656 thresh-busha1689 a1689 W. Cleland Coll. Poems (1697) 30 Their bare preaching now, Makes the thrush bush keep the Cow. 1850 J. Struthers My Own Life vi, in Poet. Wks. I. p. cxiv The shelter of a few well grown threshbushes. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021). threshv. Brit. /θrɛʃ/, U.S. /θrɛʃ/ Forms: 1. Present stem. α. (a) early Old English þercce (Kentish, present subjunctive, perhaps transmission error), early Old English ðerccedum (Kentish, present participle, dative, transmission error), Old English þerscan, Old English ðerscan, Old English þerscean, Old English þirsceð (3rd singular indicative), Old English ðyrcsan, late Old English ðerhsan, early Middle English þersche, early Middle English þershe, 1900s– thersh (Scottish (Roxburghshire)). OE Cynewulf Elene 358 Þa weregan neat, þe man daga gehwam drifeð and þirsceð, ongitaþ hira goddend, nales gnyrnwræcum feogað frynd hiera þe him fodder gifað.OE Wærferð tr. Gregory Dialogues (Corpus Cambr.) (1900) i. ii. 14 Þær hi ealle ongunnon heora hors mid heora sperescæftum þerscan.lOE Laws: Gerefa (Corpus Cambr.) xi. 454 Mænige inweorc wyrcean, ðerhsan, wudu cleofan, hryðeran styllan.c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 158 Þet sorhe þersche [?c1225 Cleo. þerschen, a1250 Nero þreossche, a1300 Caius þershe] inwið þe heorte. 1977 J. Y. Mather & H. H. Speitel Ling. Atlas Scotl. II. 172 To winnow (the process of separating chaff from grain), [Roxburgh] thersh. (b) Old English þrescan, Old English þrexan, Old English ðrysceð (3rd singular indicative), early Middle English þreosche, early Middle English þresce, Middle English ȝressche, Middle English threische, Middle English threisshe, Middle English þreisshe, Middle English thresche, Middle English þresche, Middle English threse, Middle English þressche, Middle English thresse, Middle English thressh, Middle English þresshe, Middle English tresche, Middle English tresse, Middle English–1500s threshe, Middle English–1500s thresshe, late Middle English dresshe, 1500s–1600s threash, 1500s–1600s tresh, 1500s–1600s tressh, 1500s– thresh. English regional 1800s dresh (south-western), 1900s threish (Cumberland). Welsh English (Pembrokeshire) 1800s dresh. Scottish pre-1700 threashe, pre-1700 threch, pre-1700 threis, pre-1700 threisch, pre-1700 threiss, pre-1700 thres, pre-1700 thresch, pre-1700 thresche, pre-1700 thressch, pre-1700 thressh, pre-1700 tresche, pre-1700 1700s–1800s thresh, 1800s– tresh (Shetland). N.E.D. (1912) also records forms Middle English threissch, 1500s draysche, 1500s drayse, 1500s tress. OE Aldhelm Glosses (Brussels 1650) in L. Goossens Old Eng. Glosses of MS Brussels, Royal Libr. 1650 (1974) 365 Triturandos : to þrescene [OE Digby 146 þrexene].a1425 Medulla Gram. (Stonyhurst) f. 67 Trituro, to þresshe [a1500 Harl. 1738 tressyn]. ▸ 1440 Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 492 Threschyn, trituro, flagello.?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 127^v To Tresche [1483 BL Add. 89074 Thresche], Triturare.a1500 Walter of Henley's Husbandry (Sloane) (1890) 50 Let your thresers be sworne to thresse it clene.1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 755/2 I thresshe corne in a barne.1550–1 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1911) IX. 477 Certane Franchemen to await on the taskaris trescheand the cornis of thame..that was fugitive.1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 95 Thay thresche na stuf.1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 269/1 Thresh not Wheat but as you Eat it.1782 W. Cowper Expostulation in Poems 302 Where flails of oratory thresh the floor.1899 W. W. Skeat in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1900) II. 156/2 [Berkshire] There's always a plenty of men to dresh.1976 R. Bulter Shaela 39 Da dockens tresh da barn door Laek tirn fok at's lockit oot.2016 C. E. Morgan Sport of Kings i. 36 A new combine..came to devour the acres, threshing its way through their fields. β. Old English ðærsca (Northumbrian), Old English ðarsca (Northumbrian), Old English ðearsca (Northumbrian). OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Mark v. 5 Clamans et concidens se lapidibus : cliopende & falletande uel ðærscende hine to stanum.OE (Northumbrian) Rushw. Gospels: Mark xiv. 65 Coeperunt quidam..colaphis eum caedere : ongunnun sume..mið fystum hine sla uel ðarsca [OE Lindisf. Gospels geðearsca]. γ. Middle English throsche, Middle English throsh, Middle English þrossche, Middle English throsse, Middle English–1500s throsshe; English regional 1700s–1900s drosh, 1800s– throsh. 1327 [implied in: Subsidy Roll, Leicestershire in Associated Archit. Soc. Rep. & Papers (1888) 19 242 Joh'ne Throsshere. (at thresher n.¹ 1a)]. ▸ a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. ix. xvi. 532 Þerfore he is ipeynt wiþ a fleile þrossching corn.c1430 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1868) l. 536 He wolde throsche [c1405 Hengwrt thresshe] & þerto dyke & delue.1526 Bible (Tyndale) 1 Cor. ix. 10 He which throssheth in hope shulde be part taker of his hope.1535 Bible (Coverdale) Hab. iii. B Thou trodest downe the londe..and didest throsshe the Heithen.1800 [implied in: J. Larwood Norfolk Dial. (E.D.S. No. 76) 122 The stra that the throsher had hull'd down from the gofe in the barn. (at thresher n.¹ 1)].a1902 C. K. Paul in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1904) V. 551/2 [Dorset] The smiche nearly choked me when I was a-droshin chaff.1948 M. Carbery & E. Grey Herts. Heritage at Reap We use ter sow be 'and and rip be 'and and throsh wuth th' ol' frail. δ. English regional 1900s thrush (Lincolnshire); Scottish 1800s thrush. 1807 J. Hogg Mountain Bard 93 Ding him owre, or thrush him down, He's a fause deceitfu' lown!1900 J. Good Gloss. Words East Lincs. 96 Thrush, to thrash. 2. Past tense. a. Strong. (i). 1st and 3rd singular indicative. (a) Old English þærsc, Old English ðærsc, Old English þearcs, Old English ðearx. OE Old Eng. Martyrol. (Julius) 7 Mar. (2013) 62 He..corn ðærsc ond þæt windwode.OE Prudentius Glosses (Auct. F.3.6) in A. S. Napier Old Eng. Glosses (1900) 212/1 Territat : þearcs. (b) late Old English þræsc (in prefixed forms). lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1009 Wind..þa scipo ða ealle tobeot & toþræsc.] (ii). Originally plural. (a) Old English þurcson, Old English þurhsun, Old English þurscon (in prefixed forms), Old English ðurscon (Northumbrian), Old English ðurscun (Northumbrian), Old English ðuurscon (Northumbrian, in prefixed forms), early Middle English þurscen. OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Mark xii. 5 Alios quosdam caedentes, alios uero occidentes : oðero sume ðurscun oðero æc ofslogon.OE West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) xxii. 64 Þa..oferwrugon hys ansyne & þurhsun [OE Cambr. Univ. Libr. þurcson, c1200 Hatton þurscen] his nebb. (b) early Middle English þrussschen (plural, perhaps transmission error), Middle English throsshen (plural). Scottish pre-1700 threwsche, pre-1700 thrusche, pre-1700 trewshe, 1700s–1800s thrush, 1800s threush, 1800s– throosh, 1800s– thruish, 1800s– treush (Orkney), 1900s troosh (Orkney), 1900s– threesh (north-eastern), 1900s– trüsh (Shetland). The Scots forms also represent the past tense of thrash v.a1400 Ancrene Riwle (Pepys) (1976) 13 Þi blisful son þat þe iewes þrussschen [perhaps read þrusschen] and duden to deþe.c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 43 Manye..throsshen it and fanned it.1624 in S. Ree Rec. Elgin (1908) II. 187 James Chalmer and Alexander Mitchell confessit they trewshe corne on Soonday last.1750 J. McCullough Jrnl. 12 July in K. Miller et al. Irish Immigrants in Land of Canaan (2003) 161 I..thrush flex July the - 12th.1818 G. Beattie John o' Arnha' (ed. 2) 33 He..threush on John as wi' a flail.1911 in A. W. Johnston & A. Johnston Old-lore Misc. IV. 68 He..tuik in his crap an' troosh hid.1987 A. Fenton in New Writing Scotl. 5 78 We ca'ed three loadies o' corn intae the barn in 'e mornin', an' syne we threesh.2007 S. Blackhall Quarry i. She throosh puir Pranny till there wisna a been on her back that didna dirl. (iii). New formation. Scottish pre-1700 thresche. 1607 in H. Paton Dundonald Parish Rec. (1936) 127 Alexander Houssoun..accuisit of thresshing on the Sonday denyit that he did sa him self and declairit it was Johne Houssoun, his brotheris wyfe, and hir madine that thresche. b. Weak. α. Middle English threischide, Middle English thresched, Middle English threshide, 1500s threashed, 1500s– threshed, 1600s thresht; English regional (south-western) 1800s dreshed; also Scottish pre-1700 threschit. ▸ c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Amos i. 3 Thei threshiden [a1425 L.V. threischide] in yren waynes Galaad.c1425 (c1400) Laud Troy-bk. l. 16912 Echon on other dong & thresched.1560 Bible (Geneva) Judges vi. 11 Gideon threashed [1611 threshed] wheat.1577 R. Holinshed Chron. II. 639/1 Sundrie..came to theyr Barnes, threshed vp theyr grayne.c1600 Diurnal of Remarkable Occurrents (1833) 192 [They] threschit owt thair cornes.1778 Cervantes' Life & Exploits Don Quixote Abridged ii. 11 In spite of his armour he threshed him to chaff.1876 S. Baring-Gould Vicar of Morwenstow (ed. 3) vi. 163 I got quietly hold of a great big stone.., and I dreshed in amongst them all.1996 M. Cheek Sleeping Beauties xxvi. 194 She threshed about looking for a cool place on the pillow. β. 1500s throszshed. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) 1 Chron. xxii. D Arnan throszshed wheate. 3. Past participle. a. Strong. α. (a) Old English geðorscen (Northumbrian), Old English giðorscen (Northumbrian), early Middle English iþorchen, early Middle English iþorschen, early Middle English þorschen, early Middle English yþorsse. OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Luke xx. 10 Qui caesum dimiserunt eum inanem : ðaðe geðorscen forleorton hine idelhende.a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 85 In þe deie of liureisun hwense god almihtin wule windwin þet er wes iþorchen [emended in ed. to iþorschen].?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 141 Hende child. þe cusseð þe ȝerde þet he haueð ow wið wel þorschen [c1230 Corpus Cambr. iþorschen, a1250 Nero i þrosschen].c1350 Ayenbite (1866) App. 266 Vram þo lyȝte byeþ y-þorsse mine eȝen. (b) Old English þroxen (in prefixed forms (not ge-)), early Middle English þrosshenn ( Ormulum), Middle English iþrosschen, Middle English ithrosshen, Middle English þrossche, Middle English throssen, Middle English throsshe, Middle English þrosshe, Middle English throsshyn, Middle English throssyn, Middle English trosshyn, Middle English yþrosse, Middle English ythrosshen, 1500s throshen, 1500s throsshen. N.E.D. (1912) also records a form late Middle English throsshen. OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1900) II. 294 Heora æceras ær wæron aþroxene.] c1175 [implied in: Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 1530 Þa winndwesst tu þin þrosshenn corn. (at throshen adj.)]. ▸ a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. xxviii. 27 Forsothe not in sawes shal be throsshe gith.c1390 (c1350) Proprium Sanctorum in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1888) 81 83 Hit is brouht hom til a Berne, hard I-þrosschen in an hurne.1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints (Arun.) (1938) l. 8572 Nobyl greyn whete..be weel trosshyn & bete.1584 in J. Harland House & Farm Accts. Shuttleworths (1856) I. i. 21 When the same [corn] was throshen xiij^d. β. Middle English ithresshe, Middle English þressche, Middle English thresshe, Middle English ythrysshe, 1500s threshoone, 1500s thresshen; Scottish pre-1700 threachin, pre-1700 threscheyne, pre-1700 threschin, pre-1700 threschine, pre-1700 threschyne, pre-1700 threshin, pre-1700 thresin, pre-1700 thressin, pre-1700 1700s– threshen, 1900s– treshen (Orkney and Shetland), 1900s– tröshin (Shetland); N.E.D. (1912) also records a form late Middle English thresshen. Sc. National Dict. (at Thrash) records this form type as still in use in the Northern Isles in 1972.c1460 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Oseney Abbey (1907) 144 Þen I and myne heyres schall make it [sc. grain] to Be thresshe.a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1906) ii. 649 The corn that is wonyd to be gyf I-thresshe.a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) l. 5412 Tyl the thressherys..Hadde thys greyn ythrysshe & bete.?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. ix Whan it is thresshen there is moche lyght corne.1599 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham (1889) IV. 251 All the corne..threshoone and vnthreshoone.1629 Orkney Witch Trial in County Folk-lore (1903) 3 77 Edward Rendall..said thair was nane [corn] threachin [emended in ed. to threaschin].1720 T. Boston Human Nature ii. 149 The Corn (or Son) of my Floor, threshen in the Floor of Wrath.c1920 A. Robb Memories of Mormondside (MS) in Sc. National Dict. (1960) V. 217/1 He hadna threshen twa fleers fan's supple fell oot owre's back. γ. Scottish pre-1700 thruschine, 1800s throoshen, 1800s thrushen, 1900s thruishen; English regional (Yorkshire) 1800s thrushen. The forms also represent the past participle of thrash v. (compare quot. 1883).1643 in D. M. Hunter Court Bk. Barony & Regality of Falkirk & Callendar (1991) 36 Quhilkis aittis sould haue beine delyverit immediatlie efter the samyne could be thruschine.a1835 J. Hogg Tales & Sketches (1837) III. 230 Ye deserve to hae your banes weel throoshen.1853 W. Watson Poems 15 It's better thrushen, tap and tail, Than e'er I saw't yet wi' a flail.1883 T. Lees Easther's Gloss. Dial. Almondbury & Huddersfield Thrushen, past participle of to thrash, or thresh.1923 G. Watson Roxburghshire Word-bk. 32 Strong past pples.,..thruishen (thrashed). b. Weak. α. Middle English threischid, Middle English threschid, 1500s threshte, 1500s tressyd, 1500s–1700s thresht, 1500s– threshed; also Scottish pre-1700 thresched. ▸ a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Isa. xxv. 10 Threschid [altered from wynewid; a1425 L.V. threischid] shal ben moab vnder hym.?1538 in T. Wright Three Chapters Lett. Suppression Monasteries (1843) 176 Sum is threshte,..and mych is yit to threshe.1544 in I. S. Leadam Select Cases Court of Requests (1898) 76 The said Baylyf causyd the same pease to be tressyd.1550 M. Coverdale tr. O. Werdmueller Spyrytuall & Precyouse Pearle vii. sig. Dvij Whan the corne is threshed.1649 W. Bullock Virginia impartially Examined 38 It shalbe threshed or trodden out with Oxen.1773 J. Boswell Jrnl. 9 Sept. in Jrnl. Tour Hebrides (1785) 190 Meal..toasted by fire, instead of being threshed and kiln-dried.1891 J. C. Atkinson Forty Years Moorland Parish 65 The corn would be threshed, dressed, and sacked.2002 Austral. Financial Rev. (Sydney) 15 June 48/4 (heading) It's ideas that are threshed at the Welsh bookfair. β. English regional (south-western) 1800s droshed. a1891 L. L. Bonaparte MS Coll. Dial. Words in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1900) II. 156/2 [Herefordshire] If ur wuz all droshed uz be in th' born. See also thrash v. Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: Cognate with West Frisian terskje , tarskje (strong and weak) to thresh (corn), Middle Dutch derscen , darscen , dorscen (strong and weak) to thresh (corn) (Dutch dorsen , (regional) dersen , darsen , now chiefly weak), Middle Low German derschen , darschen , dorschen (strong and weak) to thresh (corn) (German regional (Low German: Heidekreis) döschen , (Low German: East Friesland) dörsken ), Old High German dreskan (strong) to trample, crush, to thresh (corn) (Middle High German dreschen , German dreschen ), Old Icelandic þriskja , þryskva (weak) to thresh (corn) (Icelandic þreskja ), Old Swedish (in late sources) þriska , þryskia (strong) to thresh (corn) (Swedish tröska , now weak), Old Danish (in late sources) thærske (strong and weak) to thresh (corn) (Danish tærske , now weak except in regional use), Gothic þriskan (strong) to thresh (corn) < a Germanic base of uncertain origin, probably < a suffixed form of the Indo-European base of classical Latin terere to rub, to thresh (corn) by treading, to tread repeatedly (see throw v.¹). Forms with metathesis of r are found in English, Frisian, Dutch, Low German, and Danish. The Old Icelandic weak verb probably represents a secondary formation from the same Germanic base. The original meaning of the Germanic base was probably ‘to tread, step, pace’, as implied by the senses in which the Germanic word was borrowed into Romance; compare Old French, Middle French trescher, treschier to dance, to leap, to stamp (12th cent.), Old Occitan, Occitan trescar to leap, to dance, to caper (12th cent.), to move to and fro (a1225), Italian trescare to dance, to prance, caper, to stamp, trample, to thresh (corn) (12th cent., now archaic and regional in these senses), Catalan trescar to go about on foot, to go to and fro (14th cent.), to dance, to caper (15th cent.), Spanish triscar to prance, caper, to move to and fro (a1246), to dance (c1385, now obsolete), to stamp, kick (18th cent.).Sense development in Germanic. It is assumed that the Germanic word in its original sense ‘to tread, step, pace’ came to be applied specifically to the act of treading out corn by foot or by the hooves of oxen or other draught animals, and thus to the action of threshing by this or any later method. This is the primary sense in all the attested Germanic languages. Within historical times the chief mode of threshing was beating with the flail, whence the word came to be applied figuratively to knocking, beating, or striking generally, and especially of a person in battle or in punishment. In English this appears already in the Old English period (compare sense branch II.). Possible further cognates. A formal parallel of the Germanic base is apparently shown (with various ablaut grades) by Lithuanian trėkšti to squeeze, press, to milk, traškinti to crunch, to munch, triuškinti to crush, also by Old Russian trěskati to make a noise, to thunder, trěsk′′ , troska (both nouns) thunderclap, troskot′′ (noun) crackle, crash, Russian treskat′sja (reflexive) to crack, to burst, Lithuanian treškėti , traškėti to crackle, and perhaps also Tocharian A trisk- to roar, resound. However, the relationship of these sets of words to each other and to the Germanic base is unclear. Form history: (i) Old English. In Old English a strong verb of Class III, typically with metathesis of r (þerscan, beside unmetathesized þrescan). The majority of attested forms show metathesis (see e.g. Forms 1α(a)); some also show metathesis of /sk/ to /ks/ (compare ðyrcsan at Forms 1α(a), þrexan at Forms 1α(b)). Forms without metathesis of r (see e.g. Forms 1α(b)) may have been reinforced by Scandinavian influence. Unmetathesized forms become the norm in Middle English, completely superseding the metathesized forms (occasional metathesized forms in modern regional varieties probably show a recurrent independent formation). The stem vowel of Old English (Northumbrian) ðærsca (see Forms 1β. ) is best explained as showing the influence of the stem of the past tense singular (a development seen in other strong verbs in Northumbrian; compare A. Campbell Old Eng. Gram. (1959) §327, and also parallel developments in Frisian, Dutch, and Low German); the form ðearsca exhibits analogical breaking, while the precise origin of the stem vowel in the clearly related ðarsca is uncertain. Form history: (ii) Middle English and later developments. A further levelling of the stem vowel of the past tense and past participle is seen in the new present stem form type throsh (see Forms 1γ. ), frequent in late Middle English (and also paralleled in Frisian, Dutch, and Low German); compare also the later thrush (see Forms 1δ. ). The Older Scots past tense form thresh (see Forms 2a(iii)) shows a levelling in the opposite direction. For the development of the important form type thrash , see discussion at thrash v. The strong inflection is continued in Middle English and Older Scots, and survives in some varieties of Scots (now chiefly northern and insular; the strong past participle has a somewhat wider distribution, as it is retained in some varieties even when the inflection is otherwise weak). Weak forms are attested from the late 14th cent., and quickly come to predominate in both the standard language and the majority of regional varieties (similarly, in most of the other Germanic languages, with the exception of German, the verb has largely become weak). In all current senses of branches II. and III. the usual form of the word in the standard language is now thrash v.; the use of thrash as a regional variant of thresh v. in senses of branch I. (in which it remains in widespread use) is also treated at that entry. Prefixed forms. In Old English the (Northumbrian) prefixed form geþearsca to strike, beat (compare y- prefix) is also attested; compare also aþerscan to beat down (compare a- prefix¹), beþerscan to beat down (compare be- prefix), forþerscan to beat down, to devastate (compare for- prefix¹), tōþerscan to dash to pieces (compare to- prefix²). I. To separate the grain of a cereal crop from the husks and straw, and related senses. 1. a. transitive. To separate the grain of (a cereal crop) from the husks and straw by any of various methods, such as by shaking, trampling, beating with a flail, or (later) by means of a combine harvester or similar machine. Sometimes also: to separate the seed of (a pulse) in the same way. Cf. to thresh out 1 at Phrasal verbs. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of grain > [verb (transitive)] > thresh threshOE tread1382 stampa1425 berry1483 fine1579 thrash1594 to beat out1611 flack1743 cob1796 flail1821 scutch1844 strip1861 OE Old Eng. Martyrol. (Julius) 7 Mar. (2013) 62 He..corn ðærsc ond þæt windwode. c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 1500 Þa þresshesst tu þin corn wiþþ fleȝȝl. 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 139 Of þe hyeape of huete y-þorsse, þe cornes byeþ beneþe and þet chef a-boue. c1450 J. Lydgate Secrees (Sloane 2464) l. 1436 Afftir hervest..men thresshe shevys. 1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 95 Thay thresche na stuf. 1619 in G. Ornsby Select. from Househ. Bks. Naworth Castle (1878) 91 For threshing and dighting v bushells and a peck of wheat. 1649 W. Bullock Virginia impartially Examined 38 There needs be no trouble of carting till it [sc. Corne] be threshed, for it shalbe threshed or trodden out with Oxen in the Field. 1710 H. Prideaux Orig. & Right Tithes ii. 76 Corn Threshed, Winnowed, and Dressed. 1845 R. Ford Hand-bk. Travellers in Spain I. i. 25 The modern system of threshing grain in Spain is extremely ancient, classical, and Oriental. 1880 W. Newton Serm. for Boys & Girls (1881) 219 He had a number of men engaged in threshing wheat. 1968 E. R. Buckler Ox Bells & Fireflies vi. 101 Yellow-eyed soldier beans to be threshed on the barn floor with the leather-jointed flail. 1987 W. M. Reid in 3rd Statist. Acct. Scotl. XIII. 119 Now our oats are reaped, threshed and bagged on the field in one operation by combine harvesting machines. 2007 Daily Mail (Nexis) 6 Jan. 22 Memories of sowing and reaping, of threshing the corn and reeking the hay. b. intransitive. To separate the grain of a cereal crop from the husks and straw by any of various methods, such as by shaking, trampling, beating with a flail, or (later) by means of a combine harvester or similar machine. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of grain > [verb (intransitive)] > thresh threshOE thrash1364 OE Antwerp-London Gloss. (2011) 84 Area, breda þiling uel flor on to þerscenne. lOE Laws: Gerefa (Corpus Cambr.) xi. 454 Mænige inweorc wyrcean, ðerhsan, wudu cleofan, hryðeran styllan. c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Micah iv. 13 Ryse thou, and threshe, douȝter of Syon. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 4744 Ioseph þat was ful o pite Did thresche [Fairf., Trin. Cambr. þresshe; Gött. threches] son in þat contre. 1566 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1877) 1st Ser. I. 460 His barneman being threscheand and laubourand sark allane. 1607 in H. Paton Dundonald Parish Rec. (1936) 127 Alexander Houssoun..accuisit of thresshing on the Sonday denyit that he did sa him self and declairit it was Johne Houssoun, his brotheris wyfe, and hir madine that thresche. 1846 J. A. Alexander Earlier Prophecies Isaiah xxviii. 488 The husbandman ploughs and harrows, sows and plants, before he reaps and threshes. 1911 Threshermen's Rev. May 22/2 (advt.) It [sc. the tractor] plows, discs, seeds, harrows, threshes and hauls. 2013 K. E. Drexler Radical Abundance iv. 44 The spread of mechanization served agriculture directly as it advanced from horse-drawn reapers that cut wheat in the mid-nineteenth century to tractor-driven machines and then combines in the twentieth century, reaping, threshing, and winnowing. 2. transitive and intransitive. In various uses with figurative reference to the process or action of threshing or harvesting a crop. ΚΠ OE Aldhelm Glosses (Brussels 1650) in L. Goossens Old Eng. Glosses of MS Brussels, Royal Libr. 1650 (1974) 365 [Sanctae messis manipulos..in area tortoris] triturandos : to þrescene. a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 85 In þe deie of liureisun hwense god almihtin wule windwin þet er wes iþorchen [emended in ed. to iþorschen]. a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Isa. xxv. 10 Threschid [altered from wynewid] shal ben moab vnder hym: as ben to-troden strawis in a wayn. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Island xi. xxiv. 151 She..Drove farre their flying troops, & thresht with iron flail. 1857 E. B. Pusey Real Presence (1869) i. 144 Bruick said,..‘as to the King himself it was to thresh an empty ear’. 1909 Amer. Mag. Dec. 166/2 As for Machinery [sc. a poem] I'll thresh that o'er With flails of mind. 1998 Investors Chron. (Nexis) 30 Oct. 26 I always start with a company health check... It's just a starting point; a way of threshing the chaff. There's still plenty of milling to do thereafter. 3. intransitive. With adverb, as well, easily, etc. Of a crop: to be threshed, to be capable of being threshed (sense 1a). ΚΠ a1722 E. Lisle Observ. Husbandry (1752) 208 It [sc. wheat]..will come out of the straw and thresh very well. 1766 Compl. Farmer at Threshing Beans and peas always thresh best after they have sweated in the mow. 1852 F. Lancelott Austral. as it Is I. vi. 115 Frome's wheat..cannot be recommended, for, although it stands up well when ripe, it threshes badly. 1909 Naracoorte (Austral.) Herald 5 Jan. Federation wheat..is a deceiving yielder, and although it will not shake it threshes wonderfully easy. 1930 U.S. Dept. Agric. Inventory 95 17/1 It ripens about 10 or 12 days earlier than No. 1, does not fall down so quickly, and threshes well. 2018 Corn & Soybean Digest 28 Sept. Soybeans can be harvested as soon as seeds are mature and foliage is dry, but seed above 18% moisture does not thresh well. II. To hit or strike; to defeat. Cf. thrash v. II. †4. a. transitive. To hit or strike (a person or thing); to knock down. Also figurative with reference to inflicting emotional pain. Obsolete.With quot. a1250, cf. quot. ?c1225 at sense 4b. ΚΠ eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xxi. 161 Send ðærto gefylcio, & ðerscað ðone weall mid rammum. OE (Northumbrian) Liturgical Texts (Durham Ritual) in A. H. Thompson & U. Lindelöf Rituale Ecclesiae Dunelmensis (1927) 6 Sic pugno non quasi æram [read aerem] uerberans : suæ ic fehto no suoelce lyft ðerscende. a1250 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Nero) (1952) 138 He..hat ðet seoruwe þreos-sche him wiðinne ðe heorte. c1350 Ayenbite (1866) App. 266 Vram þo lyȝte byeþ y-þorsse mine eȝen. c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 1326 He laschis out a lange swerde..Threschis doun in a thrawe many threuyn dukis. 1531 G. Joye tr. Prophete Isaye xli. sig. K.vi To thresshe downe mountayns & to bete them into poulder. b. intransitive. To hit or strike a person or thing. Also (and in earliest use) figurative with reference to inflicting emotional pain. Obsolete. ΚΠ ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 228 He..hat þet soreȝe þerschen [read þersche; c1230 Corpus Cambr. þersche] inwið þe heorte wið sar bi reowsunge. c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 2300 Wy, þresch on, þou þro mon, þou þreteȝ to longe. c1425 (c1400) Laud Troy-bk. l. 16912 (MED) Echon on other dong & thresched. 5. a. transitive. To hit or beat (a person or animal) repeatedly and violently, esp. as a punishment, usually with an implement such as a stick or whip. Also figurative and in extended use with reference to non-physical punishments or afflictions. Cf. thrash v. 2a. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > authority > punishment > corporal punishment > administer corporal punishment [verb (transitive)] > beat threshOE beatc1000 to lay on?c1225 chastise1362 rapa1400 dressc1405 lack?c1475 paya1500 currya1529 coil1530 cuff1530 baste1533 thwack1533 lick1535 firka1566 trounce1568 fight1570 course1585 bumfeage1589 feague1589 lamback1589 lambskin1589 tickle1592 thrash1593 lam1595 bumfeagle1598 comb1600 fer1600 linge1600 taw1600 tew1600 thrum1604 feeze1612 verberate1614 fly-flap1620 tabor1624 lambaste1637 feak1652 flog1676 to tan (a person's) hide1679 slipper1682 liquora1689 curry-comb1708 whack1721 rump1735 screenge1787 whale1790 lather1797 tat1819 tease1819 larrup1823 warm1824 haze1825 to put (a person) through a course of sprouts1839 flake1841 swish1856 hide1875 triangle1879 to give (a person or thing) gyp1887 soak1892 to loosen (a person's) hide1902 the world > movement > impact > striking > beating or repeated striking > beat [verb (transitive)] > specifically a person to-beatc893 threshOE bustc1225 to lay on or upon?c1225 berrya1250 to-bunea1250 touchc1330 arrayc1380 byfrapc1380 boxc1390 swinga1400 forbeatc1420 peal?a1425 routa1425 noddlea1450 forslinger1481 wipe1523 trima1529 baste1533 waulk1533 slip1535 peppera1550 bethwack1555 kembc1566 to beat (a person) black and blue1568 beswinge1568 paik1568 trounce1568 canvass1573 swaddle?1577 bebaste1582 besoop1589 bumfeage1589 dry-beat1589 feague1589 lamback1589 clapperclaw1590 thrash1593 belam1595 lam1595 beswaddle1598 bumfeagle1598 belabour1600 tew1600 flesh-baste1611 dust1612 feeze1612 mill1612 verberate1614 bethumpa1616 rebuke1619 bemaul1620 tabor1624 maula1627 batterfang1630 dry-baste1630 lambaste1637 thunder-thump1637 cullis1639 dry-banga1640 nuddle1640 sauce1651 feak1652 cotton1654 fustigate1656 brush1665 squab1668 raddle1677 to tan (a person's) hide1679 slam1691 bebump1694 to give (a person) his load1694 fag1699 towel1705 to kick a person's butt1741 fum1790 devel1807 bray1808 to beat (also scare, etc.) someone's daylights out1813 mug1818 to knock (a person) into the middle of next week1821 welt1823 hidea1825 slate1825 targe1825 wallop1825 pounce1827 to lay into1838 flake1841 muzzle1843 paste1846 looder1850 frail1851 snake1859 fettle1863 to do over1866 jacket1875 to knock seven kinds of —— out of (a person)1877 to take apart1880 splatter1881 to beat (knock, etc.) the tar out of1884 to —— the shit out of (a person or thing)1886 to do up1887 to —— (the) hell out of1887 to beat — bells out of a person1890 soak1892 to punch out1893 stoush1893 to work over1903 to beat up1907 to punch up1907 cream1929 shellac1930 to —— the bejesus out of (a person or thing)1931 duff1943 clobber1944 to fill in1948 to bash up1954 to —— seven shades of —— out of (a person or thing)1976 to —— seven shades out of (a person or thing)1983 beast1990 becurry- fan- OE (Northumbrian) Liturgical Texts (Durham Ritual) in A. H. Thompson & U. Lindelöf Rituale Ecclesiae Dunelmensis (1927) 43 Qui iuste uerberas peccatores : ða ðe uel ðu ðe rehtlice ðu ðersces synfullo. OE Old Eng. Martyrol. (Julius) 20 Jan. (2013) 52 Ða het he hine mid stengum ðyrcsan oð þæt he his gast onsende. ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 141 Hende child. þe cusseð þe ȝerde þet he haueð ow wið wel þorschen. a1400 Ancrene Riwle (Pepys) (1976) 13 (MED) Lefdy seint Marie, for þat ilch mychel blisse þat þou haddest þo þou seiȝ þi blisful son þat þe iewes þrussschen [perhaps read þrusschen] and duden to deþe & wenden haue wrouȝth wiþ hym. c1450 (a1375) Octavian (Calig.) (1979) l. 764 (MED) Wyth a staf y woll þe þressche. 1570 T. Tusser Hundreth Good Pointes Husbandry (new ed.) f. 36 At shroftide to shrouing, go thresh the fatte henne. 1647 J. Trapp Comm. Epist. & Rev. 366 Gideon by threshing the men of Succoth, taught them [etc.]. 1807 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life II. xxi. 282 Learning to box, too—i.e. feeing a great raw-boned fellow to thresh you as long as he can stand over you. 1992 W. Humphrey September Song 40 He grabbed the woman's stick from her and threshed her with it. b. transitive. To inflict a heavy defeat on (an army, nation, enemy, etc.) in a conflict or battle; to defeat (an opponent) easily or decisively in a game, competition, or other contest; = thrash v. 3. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > victory > make victorious [verb (transitive)] > conquer or overcome overcomeeOE shendc893 awinc1000 overwinOE overheaveOE to lay downa1225 mate?c1225 discomfitc1230 win1297 dauntc1300 cumber1303 scomfit1303 fenkc1320 to bear downc1330 confoundc1330 confusec1330 to do, put arrear1330 oversetc1330 vanquishc1330 conquerc1374 overthrowc1375 oppressc1380 outfighta1382 to put downa1382 discomfortc1384 threshc1384 vencuea1400 depressc1400 venque?1402 ding?a1425 cumrayc1425 to put to (also at, unto) the (also one's) worsec1425 to bring or put to (or unto) utterance1430 distrussc1430 supprisec1440 ascomfita1450 to do stress?c1450 victorya1470 to make (win) a conquest1477 convanquish1483 conquest1485 defeat1485 oversailc1485 conques1488 discomfish1488 fulyie1488 distress1489 overpress1489 cravent1490 utter?1533 to give (a person) the overthrow1536 debel1542 convince1548 foil1548 out-war1548 profligate1548 proflige?c1550 expugnate1568 expugn1570 victor1576 dismay1596 damnify1598 triumph1605 convict1607 overman1609 thrash1609 beat1611 debellate1611 import1624 to cut to (or in) pieces1632 maitrise1636 worst1636 forcea1641 outfight1650 outgeneral1767 to cut up1803 smash1813 slosh1890 ream1918 hammer1948 the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > mastery or superiority > have or gain mastery or superiority over [verb (transitive)] > overcome or defeat > soundly threshc1384 to knock the socks offa1529 thump1597 thrash1609 thwacka1616 capot1649 to beat to snuff1819 to knock into a cocked hat1830 to —— (the) hell out of1833 sledgehammer1834 rout1835 whop1836 skin1838 whip-saw1842 to knock (the) spots off1850 to make mincemeat of1853 to mop (up) the floor with1875 to beat pointless1877 to lick into fits1879 to take apart1880 to knock out1883 wax1884 contund1885 to give (a person) fits1885 to wipe the floor with1887 flatten1892 to knock (someone) for six1902 slaughter1903 slather1910 to hit for six1937 hammer1948 whomp1952 bulldozer1954 zilch1957 shred1966 tank1973 slam-dunk1975 beast1977 society > leisure > sport > winning, losing, or scoring > win, lose, or score [verb (transitive)] > win > defeat overplayc1460 smother1676 lurch1678 outplay1702 thrash1789 defeat1830 spreadeagle1832 thresh1852 whitewash1867 blank1870 annihilate1886 nip1893 slam1907 plaster1919 skittle1919 rip1927 maul1928 demolish1938 massacre1940 trounce1942 hammer1948 murder1952 to shut out1952 zilch1957 zip1964 trip1974 c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Amos i. 3 Thei threshiden [a1425 L.V. threischide] in yren waynes Galaad. 1721 N. Amhurst Terræ-filius No. 13. (1754) 66 They could either thresh corn, or their country's enemies. 1837 Perth Gaz. 16 Sept. 974/3 If we had really—not on paper, but in fact and deed—soundly threshed the Kafirs in the last war, we might have long enjoyed peace. 1852 Hogg's Instructor New Ser. 9 116/1 A parcel of silly women, who ‘were all good for nothing but to be threshed at chess.’ 1911 News-Democrat (Canton, Ohio) 29 Oct. 6/1 The bigotry and fanaticism of an overgrown aristocracy, recently soundly threshed by a small race of brown men. 1967 San Antonio (Texas) Express 27 Sept. 6/1 The Arabs were soundly threshed in the brief war. 6. a. transitive. To strike at (something) with a whipping or flailing action. Cf. thrash v. 2b. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > impact > striking > beating or repeated striking > beat [verb (transitive)] > as a flail thresh1628 thrash1638 1628 W. Struther Christian Observ. & Resol. lx. 154 Hee beateth the aire, and thresheth the water, who walketh without these considerations. 1707 J. Stevens tr. F. de Quevedo Comical Wks. (1709) R ij Condemn'd to thresh the Sea, that is to the Gallies. 1872 F. Francis Bk. Angling (ed. 3) v. 145 The angler goes on threshing the water. 1882 Med. Times 17 June 623/1 Rushing round the room and threshing the air with his broken arm. 2009 P. Nichols Final Voy. xi. 173 He raised a gigantic tail on high, threshing the water from side to side until the surrounding see was white with froth. b. intransitive. With at (also †on). To strike at (a person or thing) with a whipping or flailing action. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > impact > striking > beating or repeated striking > beat [verb (intransitive)] > like a flail thresh1818 1818 G. Beattie John o' Arnha' (ed. 2) 33 He scourg'd the water wi' his tail, An' threush on John as wi' a flail. 1905 F. Young Sands of Pleasure iii. ii Richard..walked out of the graveyard, threshing at the nettles with his stick. 2007 M. Condon Trout Opera (2010) lii. 475 Wilfred threshed at the flames between the lake and the carriageway. III. Other extended uses, chiefly relating to strenuous or violent movement. Cf. thrash v. III. 7. transitive. To work at or go over (something) thoroughly or repeatedly; to belabour; (now) esp. to discuss or argue about (a matter, problem, etc.) exhaustively. Also intransitive. Usually with adverb or prepositional phrase. Cf. thrash v. 5.See also to thresh out 2 at Phrasal verbs, to thresh (over) straw at Phrases 2. ΚΠ 1734 J. Clarke Diss. upon Usefulness of Transl. Classick Authors 16 Men educated to Letters, who have threshed hard at Latin for nine or ten Years together, are oftentimes very deficient in their own Language. 1781 D. Garrick in R. B. Sheridan School for Scandal (new ed.) Prol. All night at cards, when threshing Strong tea and scandal. 1895 Amer. Hist. Reg. June 1109 It is the part of wisdom and good judgment to have the matter threshed over as to what size of book, what form of publication, [etc.]. 1982 P. Anderson New Amer. (1984) 251 They have been threshing the matter this whole night. 2002 W. G. B. Carson & W. C. Carson Peter becomes Trail Man x. 125 The question was threshed over for hours. 8. a. intransitive. Frequently with about or around. Of a person or animal: to fling the body or limbs around with wild or violent movements; (of something affected by severe winds, weather, etc.) to toss or plunge wildly; to lash; = thrash v. 4a(a). ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in specific manner > irregular movement or agitation > move irregularly or be agitated [verb (intransitive)] > roll or tumble about wevea1300 wallow1362 walterc1400 wentle1481 tumble1549 thrash1821 thresh1823 1823 Missouri Republican 27 Aug. He kicked and threshed about a little. 1891 R. Kipling Light that Failed xiii. 244 The red-haired girl threshed distressfully across the sheets. 1897 S. R. Crockett Lads' Love xxiii. 234 The wind unloosed the banded hair and blew it about her eyes, till it threshed in the man's face and annoyed him. 1950 S. J. Perelman Swiss Family Perelman vii. 116 As I threshed around on its rope springs..I was ready to trade all Tartary for a standard box mattress. 2019 @MoondriftMusing 3 Jan. in twitter.com (accessed 6 Apr. 2021) [In response to Do you dive?] Not now. I had a buddy who would thresh about, cramp up and stress me out too much. b. transitive. To move (the limbs, head, body, etc.) in a wild or violent manner; = thrash v. 4a(b). ΚΠ 1878 G. C. Graham School Dialogues for Young People 123 They tie Mr. Jones' legs, Dinah holding his head while he struggles and threshes his arms about. 1991 A. Kenny Before Wax Hardened vi. 69 He hung halfway up the white fall, threshing his tail and beating his gill fins like wings, but fell back down into the foam. 2009 Fantasy & Sci. Fiction Apr. 185 He took the cable ring in his hands and, threshing his legs, swam the bathysphere over onto its side. 9. intransitive. Nautical. To advance with difficulty against strong wind, waves, etc. Also transitive: to force (a vessel) to move forwards, esp. against strong wind, waves, etc. Cf. thrash v. 6. ΘΚΠ society > travel > travel by water > directing or managing a ship > use of wind > avail oneself of a wind [verb (intransitive)] > strive or make way against wind laveer1598 to weather it on1599 beat1677 to beat up1720 to weather along1836 thrash1855 thresh1857 society > travel > travel by water > directing or managing a ship > use of wind > get into the current of the wind [verb (transitive)] > force ship against wind or sea beat1839 thrash1858 thresh1886 1857 Ld. Dufferin Lett. from High Latitudes v. 28 We had to return..to our old practice of threshing to windward. 1886 Daily Tel. 23 Apr. 2/1 The captain threshes his great structure through the deep. 1938 Cornhill Mag. Sept. 341 The gale would die away ready for a change in its direction, and permit the setting of more canvas with which to thresh the ship to westward. 1981 Guardian 8 Aug. 12/8 Hot thick soup..handed up straight from the galley, the boat threshing to windward in a force 6, everything driving and waves sliding by to a touch on the helm. †10. transitive (reflexive). Of a machine, engine, etc.: to get into a specified condition by working extremely hard. Cf. thrash v. 7. Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1866 H. Bushnell Vicarious Sacrifice iii. v. 327 A broken engine can not mend itself by running, will only thresh itself into a more complete wreck. 1925 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 9 Feb. 6/3 (advt.) Does not thresh itself to pieces. Its direct motor makes only one revolution to stitch instead of the usual five or ten. Phrases P1. to be threshed with your own flail: see flail n. 1b. P2. to thresh (over) straw and variants: to work at something that is unproductive or unprofitable; to revisit or spend more time on something that has already been resolved or completed. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > creation > productiveness > unproductiveness > be unproductive [verb (intransitive)] to lie at a stand1622 to thresh (over) straw1844 1844 R. Whately Elements Logic (ed. 8) Pref. p. xi Our ancestors..contented themselves with vainly threshing over and over the same straw. 1871 B. Taylor tr. J. W. von Goethe Faust I. iv. 88 Why plague thyself with threshing straw for ever? 1890 Congregationalist (Boston, Mass.) 1 May 9/2 He did not waste his genius in threshing over old straw, but grappled energetically with the urgent problems of his own day. 1891 Proc. 5th Ann. Convent. Western Assoc. Writers 1890 16 At the risk of seeming to thresh straw, I am constrained—following the example of my predecessors—to speak. 1916 H. B. Rankin Personal Recoll. A. Lincoln 144 It irritated him, he said, to thresh over straw a second time. 1946 Times 7 Jan. 9/3 It [sc. the President's address] did little more, as the public saw it, than thresh over old straw. Phrasal verbs With adverbs in specialized senses. to thresh out 1. transitive. To separate the grain of (a cereal crop) from the husks and straw by any of various methods, such as by shaking, trampling, beating with a flail, or (later) by means of a combine harvester or similar machine. Sometimes also: to separate the seed of (a pulse) in the same way.Also with the grain, seed, etc., as direct object. ΚΠ a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Judges vi. 11 Gedeon..threischide out [E.V. a1382 Bodl. 959 shekede out, a1425 Corpus Oxf. shockide out], and purgide wheetis in a pressour. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Micah iv. C Therfore get the vp (o thou doughter Sion) and throsshe out the corne. 1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Compl. Gard'ner ii. vi. iii. 163 Cutting off all the Seed stems, and when they are dried, threshing out the Seed. 1762 J. Mills New Syst. Pract. Husbandry I. 448 Millet, either green, or after its grain is threshed out, is very good fodder for cattle. 1949 National Geographic Mag. Sept. 331/2 ‘Viners’ that thresh out the peas were working day and night. 2008 T. Volk CO2 Rising ii. 20 The harvester chopped down the stalk [of barley].., automatically threshed out the seed heads, and conveyed them into a giant hopper at the rear. 2. transitive. figurative. To discuss (a matter) thoroughly in order to reach a decision, consensus, or conclusion; to arrive at (an agreement, plan, etc.) after a great deal of discussion or argument; = to thrash out 2 at thrash v. Phrasal verbs.In quot. 1805 referring to critiquing a book. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > testing > debate, disputation, argument > hold discussions about, debate [verb (transitive)] > exhaustively beat1470 hammer1594 extund1610 crasha1670 to thresh out1805 to thrash out1829 to hash out1916 1805 J. Montgomery Let. 14 Oct. in J. Holland & J. Everett Mem. Life & Writings J. Montgomery (1855) II. 108 What apology can I offer for not threshing out the ‘Memoirs of Warton’, since I remained at home all the week? 1885 Law Rep.: Chancery Div. 29 810 That point had been threshed out before Mr. Justice Pearson. 1893 Spectator 18 Mar. 349 The matter should have been thoroughly threshed out. 2013 StarStudio July 82/3 It became evident that Jessica was not ready to talk to Vice just yet. She begged off from threshing things out with him over the phone. Derivatives threshed adj. that has undergone threshing; (of grain) separated by means of threshing.Cf. earlier throshen adj., threshen adj. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of grain > [adjective] > threshed threshen1482 berried1557 threshed1613 1613 W. Browne Britannia's Pastorals I. iv. 83 Next commeth Autumne, when the threshed sheafe Looseth his graine, and euery tree his leafe. 1908 Daily Mail 6 Apr. 6/5 Wagoners..take the threshed corn to the nearest town. 2007 A. McDonald Hist. Ecol. Grassland Upper Thames Valley vi. 87/1 White darnel (Lolium temulentum)..is an introduced annual weed of cereal crops and threshed grain. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.¹c1465n.²a1689v.eOE
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threshn.1

threshn.2

Compounds

threshv.

Phrases

Phrasal verbs

Derivatives

threshn.¹

threshn.²