Forms: see below. [OE. þerscan (pa. t. þærsc, þurscon, pa. pple. þorscen), rarely and late þrescan, þryscan; a Common Teutonic verb, = OLG. *þerscan (MLG., MDu., Flem. derschen; also MDu., Du., LG. dorschen, LG. drosken, EFris. dörsken); OHG. dreskan (MHG., Ger. dreschen); ON. þreskja, weak vb. (Norw. treskja, Da. tærske, Sw. tröska); Goth. þriskan (*þrask, *þruskans):—OTeut. *þresk- :—Indo-Eur. *tresk-, exemplified also in Lith. traszketi to rattle, make a noise, Russ. трескать treskati (refl.) to burst, crash, crackle: cf. OSlav. трескъ sb. a crash. The metathesis þersk- for þresk- is found in OE., LG., Du., and Da. The meaning in OTeut. was prob. ‘to tramp or stamp heavily with the feet,’ including both the action and the noise, as shown by the senses in which the word was taken into Romanic: Prov. tresc-ar, dresc-ar, It. tresc-are, OF. trescher to dance, Sp., Pg. trisc-ar to make a noise with the feet (see Diez s.v. trescare). The word came to be applied esp. to the act of treading out corn by the feet of men or oxen, and thus to the action of threshing by this or any later method. This is the only sense known in Gothic, OHG., and ONorse; but within historical times the chief mode of threshing was beating with the flail, whence the word came to be applied fig. to knocking, beating, or striking generally, and esp. of a person in battle or in punishment. In English this appears already in the OE. period; in German it is later (Grimm). The historical form in Eng. is thresh; a dialectal variant thrash, faintly represented in early times, came into literary use near the end of the 16th c., and became established in the 17th c., esp. in the sense ‘to beat, flog, or belabor,’ for which it is now the ordinary form, while thresh is still largely retained in reference to corn. By this means, to thresh (corn) and to thrash (an offender or an opponent) have become to a considerable extent differentiated, so as almost to be felt as distinct words, esp. since the use of the flail has become so much superseded by mechanical means. Another form throsh, with the vowel of the pa. pple. as in Du. and LG., was frequent in late ME, but is now only dialectal.]
A. Illustration of Forms.
1. Present stem.
α. 1 þersc(e)an, þirsc-, ðærsc-, ðerhs-, ðoarc-, ðearsc-, þearcs-, þrex-, ðryscan; 3 þreoschen, 3–4 þressh-, 4 threisch-, threissch-, 4–5 þresch-, þressch-e(n, 4–6 thresshe, thresche, -yn, threshe, thresse, -yn, 5 thraissh, 6–7 threash, 6– thresh (dial. 6 tress, drayse, draysche, 8–9 draish, dresh).
a. 800. Cynewulf, Elene, 358 (Gr.). Ða wereʓan neat, þe man … drifeð and þirsceð.
a. 850. Ðeh ðu þercce [? þersce] [see B. 1].
c. 897. Ðerscað ðone weall [see B. 4].
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Mark v. 5. Cliopende & ðærscende hine to stanum. Ibid., xiv. 65. Ongunnun … mið fystum vel dyntum hinc ʓeslaa vel ʓeðearsca [c. 975 Rushw. ðarsca].
c. 1000. To þerscenne, a. 1100 Ðerhsan [see B. 1 b].
a. 1100. in Napier, O. E. Glosses, 212/1. Territat, þearcs.
a. 1100. Aldhelm Gloss., I. 3433, ibid., 91/2. Triturandos, to þrexen[n]e.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 306. Þet seoruwe þreosche him wiðinne þe heorte.
1377, 1382, c. 1386. Thresche, threshe, threischinge, thresshe, þressche [see B. 1 b].
14[?]. Tretyce, in W. of Henley’s Husb. (1890), 50. Let yor thresers be sworne to thresse it clene.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 492/2. Threschyn, trituro, flagello.
1530. Palsgr., 755/2. I thresshe corne in a barne.
15[?]. Thressyn [see B. 1 b].
1552. Huloet, Threshe, flagello,… trituro.
1570. Levins, Manip., 91/32. To Thresh, triturare.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. (S.T.S.), I. 95. Thay thresche na stuf.
1693, 1764, etc. Thresh [see B 1].
β. (1 ðarscan), 5 thrassh, 6– thrash (8–9 dial. drash).
c. 975. Ðarsca [see α, quot. c. 9502].
1591. Spenser, M. Hubberd, 264. To … thrash, to thetch, to mowe.
1662. J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass., 390. The men bring it [corn] into the barn, but the women thrash and sell it.
1746. Exmoor Scolding, 94. Chell baste tha, chell stram tha, chell drash tha.
1795. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Royal Visit Exeter, II. xiv. He did zo drash about his brain, That was not over stor’d.
γ. 5 throsch(e, 5–6 throsh(e, throsshe, throszshe, (8–9 dial. drosh).
14[?]. Chaucer’s Prol., 536 (MS. Cambr. G g 4. 27). He wolde throsche.
1486. [implied in Throsheris: see THRASHER1 1].
1495. Trevisa’s Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xiv. aa viij b/1. They ledyth them [oxen] abowte vpon corne to breke the strawe in throsshyng and tredynge the flour.
1526. Tindale, 1 Cor. ix. 10. He which throssheth in hope shulde be part taker of his hope.
1535. Coverdale, Hab. iii. 12. Thou trodest downe the londe … and didest throsshe the Heithen.
2. Past tense.
α. 1 ðærsc, pl. ðurscon, -un (þurcson, þurhsun), 2 pl. þurscen, 5 pl. throsshen; 8–9 Sc. thruish, threush(ö).
a. 900. O. E. Martyrol., 7 March, 36. He … corn þærsc ond þæt windwode.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Mark xii. 5. Sume ðurscun oðero æc ofsloʓon.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke xxii. 6. Þa … ofer-wruʓon hys ansyne & þurhsun [v.r. þurcson, c. 1160 Hatton G. þurscen] his nebb.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, I. lxxiv. (1869), 43. Manye … throsshen it and fanned it.
1815. Threush [B. 3 b].
Mod. Sc. He thruish aa’ day i’ the barn.
β. (weak conj.) 4–5 thresched, 6 threashed, (throszshed), 6– threshed, thrashed.
c. 1400. Thresched [see B. 4 b].
1535. Coverdale, 1 Chron. xxii. [xxi.] 20. Arnan throszshed wheate.
1560. Bible (Genev.), Judg. vi. 11. Gideon threashed [1611 threshed] wheat.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., II. 639/1. Sundrie … came to theyr Barnes, threshed vp they grayne.
1633. Thresht [see B. 2].
3. Past participle.
α. 1 *þorscen, 2 iþor[s]chen; 3 i-ðrosschen, (Orm.) þrosshenn, 4 ithrosshen, i-þrosschen, y-þorsse, throsshe, 5 throsshen, (trosshyn), 6 throshen, 9 Sc. thruishen(ö).
c. 1175. Iþor[s]chen [see B. 2].
c. 1200. Ormin, 1530. Þa winndwesst tu þin þrosshenn corn.
a. 1225. Iðrosschen [see B. 5].
13[?]. Propr. Sanct. (Vernon MS.), in Herrig’s Archiv, LXXXI. 83/26. Hit is brouht hom til a Berne, Hard I-þrosschen in an hurne.
1584. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), I. 2. When the same [corn] was throshen xiijd.
Mod. Sc. When the last stack was thruishen.
β. 5–6 thresshen, (5 (i)thresshe, ythrysshe), 6 threshoone, 7 Sc. threaschin, 8 Sc. threshen.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 5412. Tyl the thressherys … Hadde thys greyn ythrysshe & bete.
c. 1450. Godstow Reg., 649. The corn that is wonyd to be gyf I-thresshe.
c. 1450. Oseney Reg., 144. I and myne heyres schall make it to Be thresshe.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 13. Whan it is thresshen, there is moche lyght corne.
1599. Nottingham Rec., IV. 251. All the corne … threshoone and vnthreshoone.
1629. Orkney Witch Trial, in County Folk-Lore (1903), III. 77. Edward Rendall … said thair was nane [corn] threa[s]chin.
1720. T. Boston, Fourfold St. (1797), 135. The corn of my floor threshen in the floor of wrath.
γ. (weak conj.) 4 threschid, threischid, 6 (tressyd), thresht(e, 6– threshed, thrashed (7 thrasht).
1382. Threschid [see B. 2].
1538. in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden), 176. Sum is threshte,… and mych is yit to threshe.
1544. in I. S. Leadam, Sel. Cases Crt. Requests (1898), 76. The said Baylyf causyd the same pease to be tressyd.
a. 1625. Thrasht [see B. 5 β].
B. Signification.
I. To thresh (thrash) corn, etc. and directly derived senses.
1. To separate by any mechanical means, e.g., rubbing, shaking, trampling, stamping, beating, or intermittent pressure, the grains of any cereal from the husks and straw; esp. by beating with a flail; now (from the latter part of the eighteenth century) also by the action of revolving mechanism in a mill or machine. Also, to shake out or separate in the same way the seed of any plant.
The verb was in early times applied to the trampling and stamping of oxen, or the dragging of heavy rugged things, over the corn laid on a smooth surface or floor.
a. trans.
α. a. 850. Kentish Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 83/35–7. Ðeh ðu þercce [for þersce] swa berecorn ðerccedum [for ðerscendum].
c. 1200. Ormin, 1500. Þa þresshesst tu þin corn wiþþ fleȝȝl.
1340. Ayenb., 139. Of þe hyeape of huete y-þorsse, þe cornes byeþ beneþe and þet chef above.
c. 1450. Lydg., Secrees, 1436. Afftir hervest … men thresshe shevys.
1530, 1596. [see A. 1 α].
1693. Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., II. 163. Cutting off all the Seed stems, and when they are dried, threshing out the Seed.
1764. Museum Rust., II. lxxvi. 260. How he lets his corn to thresh by the great.
1845. Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. 25. The modern system of threshing grain in Spain is extremely ancient, classical, and Oriental.
1880. W. Newton, Serm. Boys & Girls (1881), 219. He had a number of men engaged in threshing wheat.
β. 1588. Shaks., Tit. A., II. iii. 123. First thrash the Corne, then after burne the straw.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 1008. Husbandmen are affraid to thrash their wheat upon a dry and sandy floore, because of ants.
1662. [see A. 1 β].
1846. J. Baxter’s Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), II. 337. The [turnip] seed may then be … stacked and thrashed when wanted.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2555/2. Doura, sorghum, or flax was thrashed by drawing across a comb-like instrument.
b. absol. or intr.
α. c. 1000. Ælfric’s Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 147/14. Area, breda þiling, uel for on to þerscenne.
a. 1100. Gerefa, in Anglia (1886), IX. 261. Mæniʓe inweorc wyrcean, ðerhsan, wudu cleofan.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4744 (Cott.). Ioseph þat was ful o pite Did thresche [v.rr. þreashe, threche] son in þat contre.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 553. Some tyme I sowe and some tyme I thresche.
1382. Wyclif, Micah iv. 13. Ryse thou, and threshe, douȝter of Syon. Ibid., 1 Cor. ix. 9. Thou schalt not bynde the mouth of the oxe threischinge [1388 that threischith].
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 536. He wolde thresshe [v.rr. throsche, þressche] and ther to dyke and delue.
15[?]. Ragman Roll, 53, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 72. Whoo so lyst may thressyn in your berne.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 70, ¶ 10. He, whose task is to reap and thresh.
β. 1592. [see A. 1 β].
1755. Johnson, To thrash, v.n.
c. intr. for pass. Of corn: To bear threshing; to be threshed.
1760. R. Brown, Compl. Farmer, II. 72. The weeds … will … cause it [rye] not to thrash well. Ibid., 81.
2. fig.; in earlier use sometimes with reference to ancient modes of threshing. To thresh (thrash) straw, to work at what is unproductive or unprofitable; also to thresh over old straw.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 85. In þe deie of liureisun hwense god almihtin wule windwin þet er wes ibor[s]chen.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xxv. 10. Threschid shal ben Moab vnder hym, as ben to-treden strawes in a wayn.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., XI. xxiv. She … Drove farre their flying troops, and thresht with iron flail.
1777. Garrick, Prol. Sheridan’s Sch. Scand., 11. All night at cards when threshing Strong tea and scandal.
1857. Pusey, Real Presence, i. (1869), 144. Bruick said,… ‘as to the King himself [Hen. VIII.] it was to thresh an empty ear.’
1871. B. Taylor, Faust (1875), I. iv. 73. Why plague thyself with threshing straw forever?
a. 1876. Binorie O an Binorie, iii., in Child, Ballads, I. (1882), 133/1. O sister, O sister, will ye go to the dams, To hear the blackbird thrashin oer his songs?
b. To thresh (thrash) out (a subject, etc.), to discuss (a matter) exhaustively, to argue thoroughly; to get at the truth of (a question) by discussion or argument.
1828. Standard, 23 Jan., 2/1. We are not desirous of trying back upon an argument which we have, as we think, thoroughly threshed out.
1882. Pebody, Eng. Journalism, xxiii. 186. There is hardly a question … that is not now completely thrashed out in the Press long before it reaches Parliament.
1884. Law Times, 15 March, 353/1. Every case thoroughly thrashed out.
1885. Sir C. S. C. Bowen, in Law Rep., 29 Ch. Div. 810. That point had been threshed out before Mr. Justice Pearson.
1893. Spectator, 18 March, 349. The matter should have been thoroughly threshed out.
3. transf. To beat or strike as with a flail: see quots. and cf. 5.
α. 1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 180. At Shroftide to shrouing, go thresh the fat hen.
1707. J. Stevens, trans. Quevedo’s Com. Wks. (1709), R ij. Condemn’d to thresh the Sea, that is to the Gallies.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, v. (1880), 153. The angler goes on threshing the water.
β. 1638. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (ed. 2), 171. Swarms of Gnats, Mus-ke-toes, and such like…, stung and pesterd us…; they biting us, we thrashing them like mad folks.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Past., II. 73. Myself will … thrash the Chesnuts in the Neighb’ring Grove.
1823. J. F. Cooper, Pioneers, i. The black … began thrashing his arms together, in order to restore the circulation.
b. intr. To deliver or inflict blows as with a flail; to strike or beat on or at. (With quot. 1693 cf. BEAT v.1 26 b.)
1693. Dryden, Juvenal’s Sat., X. 191. I rather wou’d be Mævius, thrash for Rhimes Like his… Than that Philippique … should be mine.
1815. G. Beattie, John o’ Arnha’ (1826), 33. He scourg’d the water wi’ his tail, An’ threush on John as wi’ a flail.
1905. F. Young, Sands Pleas., III. ii. Richard … walked out of the graveyard, threshing at the nettles with his stick.
† 4. trans. To beat, batter, strike, knock. Also fig. Obs. exc. as in 3.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xxi. 160. Send ðærto ʓefylceo, & ðerscað ðone weall mid rammum.
a. 950. Rituale Eccl. Dunelm. (Surtees), 6. Svæ ic fehto no svoelce lyft ðerscende {non quasi æram (Vulg. aerem) verberans].
a. 1000. Sal. & Sat. (Kemble) 148. Se ðunor hit ðrysceð mid ðære fyrenan æcxe.
1340. Ayenb., 266. Vram þo lyȝte byeþ y-þorsse mine eȝen.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 1326. He laschis out a lange swerde … Threschis doun in a thrawe many threuyn dukis.
† b. intr. To strike, inflict blows on. Obs.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 2300. Wy þresch on, þou þro mon, þou þretez to longe.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 16912. Echon on other dong & thresched.
II. To beat a person, an army, etc. Now commonly thrash.
5. trans. To beat by way of punishment; to chastise by or as by beating; to flog, orig. with a stick, cudgel, whip, etc.; in mod. use also to pommel with the fists. Also transf. and fig.
α. a. 950. Rituale Eccl. Dunelm. (Surtees), 43. Ðv ðe rehtlice ðv ðersces synfvllo [qui juste verberas peccatores].
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 186. Hendi children þet cusseð þe ȝerden þet he haueð ou mid iðrosschen.
a. 1400. Octouian, 764. With a staf Y wol the thressche.
1647. Trapp, Comm. Epistles, 366. Gideon by threshing the men of Succoth, taught them [etc.].
1806–7. J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life, XXI. xvii. Learning to box, too—i.e. feeing a great raw-boned fellow to thresh you as long as he can stand over you.
β. a. 1625. Fletcher, Nice Valour, III. iii. Oh gentlemen y’are welcom: I have been thrasht i’ faith…. Never was Shrove-tuesday Bird So cudgel’d gentlemen.
1733. Fielding, Mock Doctor, iv. Take a good cudgel, and thrash him with it.
1739. ‘R. Bull,’ trans. Dedekindus’ Grobianus, 168. A Wife, an Ass, Walnut-tree (’tis thought) Except they’re thrash’d, are never good for ought.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, x. O’Brien … was very kind to me in general, and allowed nobody to thrash me but himself.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, i. I always meant to … thrash a lord or two who thrashed me at Eton.
1885. Manch. Exam., 11 Nov., 3/3. The deacon … thrashes him for wasting his time.
b. In colloq. phrases, as to thrash one’s jacket, to thrash the life out of (cf. BEAT v.1 15).
1687. T. Brown, Saints in Uproar, Wks. 1730, I. 74. I’ll substantially thrash your jacket for you.
1873. Black, Pr. Thule, xvii. If you were half-a-dozen years older, I would thrash the life out of you.
1907. Lawrence (KS) Daily World, 2/2. It really begins to look as though we might yet have to thrash the tar out of the Japs.
6. To beat completely or thoroughly (BEAT v.1 10); to defeat or overcome with severe loss in war or fighting, or at a game or contest.
α. 1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., II. i. 50. Thou scuruy valiant Asse, thou art heere but to thresh Troyans.
1721. Amherst, Terræ Filius, No. 13. (1754), 66. They could either thresh corn, or their country’s enemies.
β. 1778. Lady Sarah Lennox, Lett. (1901), I. 279. Send them home to thrash the French.
1796. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp. (1845), II. 256. I shall … take my chance of helping to thrash Don Langara.
1841. Lever, C. O’Malley, lxxii. We had been attacked by the French in force and devilishly well thrashed.
1863. Kingsley, Water Bab., i. [He] could have thrashed Mr. Grimes himself in fair fight.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer (1891), 276. The Colonel … has just been thrashing me at billiards.
1903. Westm. Gaz., 14 April, 2/3 [incident of June 1815]. It touched land, and a man jumped out waving his hat and exclaiming, ‘Hurrah, Wellington has thrashed Boney!’
III. Transferred uses, often referring to both I and II. Usually thrash.
7. intr. Naut. To force or work one’s way against opposing wind, tide, etc.; = BEAT v.1 19; said of a ship or of mariners. Also trans. with way.
α. 1857. Ld. Dufferin, Lett. High Lat., v. (ed. 3), 28. We had to return … to our old practice of threshing to windward.
β. 1830. Col. Hawker, Diary (1893), II. 15. Hard labour to … thrash for an hour through blocks of ice before we could get out.
1855. Kingsley, Westw. Ho, xx. The ship thrashed close-hauled through the rolling seas.
1890. Clark Russell, Marriage at Sea, xiii. The steamer was thrashing through it at an exhilarating speed.
1900. Daily News, 15 Oct., 6/7. The Nuddea encountered the typhoon some distance to the southward of Hong Kong, and … had to thrash her way through it.
b. trans. To force (a ship) forward, esp. against contrary wind or sea. Cf. BEAT v.1 19 d.
α. 1886. Daily Tel., 23 April, 2/1. The captain threshes his great structure through the deep.
β. 1891. Kipling, Light that Failed, xv. 310. The screw began to thrash the ship along the Docks. Ibid. (1893), Many Invent., 365. Carry on and thrash her out with all she’ll stand.
8. intr. To make wild movements like those of a flail or a whip; to lash out; to throw oneself (or itself) to and fro with violence; to toss, plunge; of hair, branches, or anything free at one end: to flap, whip, lash. Also trans. (refl.) with into.
1850. Scoresby, Cheever’s Whalem. Adv., v. (1858), 74. [A whale] blindly thrashed and rolled about in great agony.
1875. Ld. Shaftesbury, in Life (1886), III. xxxiii. 354. He [a preacher] thrashed with his arms, as though he were about to strike.
1883. C. F. Holder, in Harper’s Mag., Jan., 186/2. The shark squirmed out, thrashing about and snapping its jaws.
1891. Kipling, Light that Failed, i. 13. A night-wind thrashed along the bents of the foreshore. Ibid., xiii. 244. The red-haired girl threshed distressfully across the sheets.
1896. Boston (Mass.) Jrnl., 11 Jan., 4/8. The wounded bears were kicking and thrashing around me.
1897. Crockett, Lad’s Love, xxiii. The wind unloosed the banded hair and blew it about…, till it threshed in the man’s face and annoyed him.
1900. N. Munro, in Blackw. Mag., Nov., 656/1. They saw the boughs thrash and the tree tops rise and fall like billows round the village.
refl. 1865. Bushnell, Vicar. Sacr., III. v. (1868), 327. A broken engine by running will only thresh itself into a more complete wreck.
Hence Thrashed, threshed ppl. a.
[c. 1200. Þrosshenn corn: see A. 3 α.]
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), I. 147. They … put some of the Chaff in first, and then their thrashed Wheat.
1805. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 48. A large quantity of thrashed grain is seldom kept.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, vi. (1880), 193. One of our well-thrashed streams.
