From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Thrash \Thrash\, Thresh \Thresh\, v. t. [imp. & p. p.
{Thrashed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Thrashing}.] [OE.
[thorn]reschen, [thorn]reshen, to beat, AS. [thorn]erscan,
[thorn]rescan; akin to D. dorschen, OD. derschen, G.
dreschen, OHG. dreskan, Icel. [thorn]reskja, Sw. tr["o]ska,
Dan. t[ae]rske, Goth. [thorn]riskan, Lith. traszketi to
rattle, Russ. treskate to burst, crackle, tresk' a crash,
OSlav. troska a stroke of lighting. Cf. {Thresh}.]
1. To beat out grain from, as straw or husks; to beat the
straw or husk of (grain) with a flail; to beat off, as the
kernels of grain; as, to thrash wheat, rye, or oats; to
thrash over the old straw.
[1913 Webster]
The wheat was reaped, thrashed, and winnowed by
machines. --H. Spencer.
[1913 Webster]
2. To beat soundly, as with a stick or whip; to drub.
[1913 Webster] Thrash
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Thrash \Thrash\, Thresh \Thresh\, v. t.
1. To practice thrashing grain or the like; to perform the
business of beating grain from straw; as, a man who
thrashes well.
[1913 Webster]
2. Hence, to labor; to toil; also, to move violently.
[1913 Webster]
I rather would be Maevius, thrash for rhymes,
Like his, the scorn and scandal of the times.
--Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
thrash
n 1: a swimming kick used while treading water
v 1: give a thrashing to; beat hard [syn: {thrash}, {thresh},
{lam}, {flail}]
2: move or stir about violently; "The feverish patient thrashed
around in his bed" [syn: {convulse}, {thresh}, {thresh
about}, {thrash}, {thrash about}, {slash}, {toss},
{jactitate}]
3: dance the slam dance [syn: {slam dance}, {slam}, {mosh},
{thrash}]
4: beat so fast that (the heart's) output starts dropping until
(it) does not manage to pump out blood at all
5: move data into and out of core rather than performing useful
computation; "The system is thrashing again!"
6: beat the seeds out of a grain [syn: {thrash}, {thresh}]
7: beat thoroughly and conclusively in a competition or fight;
"We licked the other team on Sunday!" [syn: {cream}, {bat},
{clobber}, {drub}, {thrash}, {lick}]
From The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) [jargon]:
thrash
vi.
To move wildly or violently, without accomplishing anything useful. Paging
or swapping systems that are overloaded waste most of their time moving
data into and out of core (rather than performing useful computation) and
are therefore said to thrash. Someone who keeps changing his mind (esp.
about what to work on next) is said to be thrashing. A person frantically
trying to execute too many tasks at once (and not spending enough time on
any single task) may also be described as thrashing. Compare {multitask}.
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