THRESH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does thresh mean? 

• THRESH (verb)
  The verb THRESH has 4 senses:

1. move or stir about violently

2. move like a flail; thresh about

3. beat the seeds out of a grain

4. give a thrashing to; beat hard

  Familiarity information: THRESH used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• THRESH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they thresh    ... he / she / it threshes   
Past simple: threshed   
Past participle: threshed   
-ing form: threshing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move or stir about violently

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

convulse; jactitate; slash; thrash; thrash about; thresh; thresh about; toss

Context example:

The feverish patient thrashed around in his bed

Hypernyms (to "thresh" is one way to...):

agitate; shake (move or cause to move back and forth)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "thresh"):

whip (thrash about flexibly in the manner of a whiplash)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move like a flail; thresh about

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

flail; thresh

Context example:

Her arms were flailing

Hypernyms (to "thresh" is one way to...):

beat; flap (move with a flapping motion)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Beat the seeds out of a grain

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

thrash; thresh

Hypernyms (to "thresh" is one way to...):

beat (hit repeatedly)

Domain category:

agriculture; farming; husbandry (the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

The fighter managed to thresh his opponent

Derivation:

thresher (a farm machine for separating seeds or grain from the husks and straw)

threshing (the separation of grain or seeds from the husks and straw)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Give a thrashing to; beat hard

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

flail; lam; thrash; thresh

Hypernyms (to "thresh" is one way to...):

beat; beat up; work over (give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression)

Verb group:

bat; clobber; cream; drub; lick; thrash (beat thoroughly and conclusively in a competition or fight)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to thresh the prisoners

 Context examples 

The two animals threshed about, the lynx ripping and tearing with her claws and using her teeth as well, while the she-wolf used her teeth alone.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Systemic and pulmonary reactions resulting from inhalation of dust from moldy hay, threshing dust, or moldy straw, by persons who have become hypersensitive to antigens in the dust.

(Farmer's Lung, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The foresail and fore-topsail, emptied of the wind by the manœuvre, and with no one to bring in the sheet in time, were thundering into ribbons, the heavy boom threshing and splintering from rail to rail.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)