thresh

Meaning

Verb

• To separate the grain from the straw or husks (chaff) by mechanical beating, with a flail or machinery.
• To beat soundly, usually with some tool such as a stick or whip; to drub.
• To violently toss the limbs about.

Related

Similar words

• thrash

Origin

• From Middle English thresshen, threshen, threschen, from Old English þrescan, from Proto-Germanic *þreskaną. Compare West Frisian terskje, Dutch dorsen, Low German dörschen, German dreschen, Danish tærske, Swedish tröska, Yiddish דרעשן. thrash.