1
as in to twitch
to make jerky or restless movements
the poor dog threshed against his chain
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2
as in to lick
to strike repeatedly
he threshed the whimpering dog with his cane
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Recent Examples of thresh
The second one came to the top only a couple of yards from the raft and threw the spoon with a rolling, threshing twist of its whole body.
—
Ben East, Outdoor Life, 28 Aug. 2025
On the precipice For all their importance to the smooth running of nature’s threshing machine, vultures themselves are being mowed under at an alarming rate.
—Natalie Angier, New York Times, 12 Nov. 2023
The hurricane with no name threshed across the Atlantic coast in mid-September 1713, ripping at tobacco crops and sending panicked colonists inland, where the storm's destructive power found them.
—oregonlive, 5 Sep. 2019
Vintage tractors, trucks, cars and motorcycles will be on display, and there will be a Parade of Power, tractor pulls and demonstrations of threshing, horse plowing, butter churning, blacksmithing and more.
—Phil Marty, chicagotribune.com, 29 July 2019
In the San Joaquin Valley, beans are harvested by a machine called Big Bertha, which can pick and thresh fifty thousand pounds a day.
—Junot Díaz, The New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2018
Subrat Chandra Gayen, another resident of Joymoni, said nearly 80 percent of families have had to give up on rice farming, which once provided food and an income for most people in the area, including women who sowed, harvested, and threshed it.
—Manipadma Jena, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Mar. 2018
Deuteronomy 25:4 prohibits the muzzling of an ox that is threshing.
—Karen Swallow Prior, Washington Post, 29 Jan. 2018
Sometimes scenes of hunting, netting fish, herding and butchering animals, threshing grain and other farming activities were carved or painted directly onto tomb walls, as in the exquisite murals at the ancient burial grounds at Saqqara near Cairo.
—Salima Ikram, Smithsonian, 3 Feb. 2017
Ben East, Outdoor Life, 28 Aug. 2025
On the precipice For all their importance to the smooth running of nature’s threshing machine, vultures themselves are being mowed under at an alarming rate.
—Natalie Angier, New York Times, 12 Nov. 2023
The hurricane with no name threshed across the Atlantic coast in mid-September 1713, ripping at tobacco crops and sending panicked colonists inland, where the storm's destructive power found them.
—oregonlive, 5 Sep. 2019
Vintage tractors, trucks, cars and motorcycles will be on display, and there will be a Parade of Power, tractor pulls and demonstrations of threshing, horse plowing, butter churning, blacksmithing and more.
—Phil Marty, chicagotribune.com, 29 July 2019
In the San Joaquin Valley, beans are harvested by a machine called Big Bertha, which can pick and thresh fifty thousand pounds a day.
—Junot Díaz, The New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2018
Subrat Chandra Gayen, another resident of Joymoni, said nearly 80 percent of families have had to give up on rice farming, which once provided food and an income for most people in the area, including women who sowed, harvested, and threshed it.
—Manipadma Jena, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Mar. 2018
Deuteronomy 25:4 prohibits the muzzling of an ox that is threshing.
—Karen Swallow Prior, Washington Post, 29 Jan. 2018
Sometimes scenes of hunting, netting fish, herding and butchering animals, threshing grain and other farming activities were carved or painted directly onto tomb walls, as in the exquisite murals at the ancient burial grounds at Saqqara near Cairo.
—Salima Ikram, Smithsonian, 3 Feb. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for thresh
Verb
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At 6-foot-4, 255 pounds, Huff at his best has good bend and some twitch to his game.—
Jerry McDonald,
Mercury News,
7 Jan. 2026
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Their usefulness remains an open question At the back of a conference hall at the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas, a humanoid robot twitched through a preprogrammed wave for a crowd of cell phone cameras—a classic scene of high spectacle and unclear utility at CES.—
Eric Sullivan,
Scientific American,
6 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The sketch concluded with the librarian licking Moynihan's face with a forked tongue and then unbuttoning her blouse — causing all of the boys' heads to explode.—
Shania Russell,
Entertainment Weekly,
5 Nov. 2025
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The first is Christopher Walken as Gabriel, a mean-spirited angel who sniffs and licks crime scenes and inspects children’s teeth for reasons that sort of make sense within the movie.—
Keith Phipps,
Vulture,
31 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Someone off camera then tossed him that actual T-shirt.—
Emily Zemler,
Rolling Stone,
8 Jan. 2026
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Failing to get a criminal conviction tossed and again complaining about the conditions at Rikers Island, Weinstein wants to begin negotiations with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg‘s office ahead of his upcoming trial, his lawyer said during a hearing Thursday.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
8 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Walpole got on the board first, scoring three seconds into the second quarter when Jack English pounded the ball into the end zone on third-and-goal from the one.—
Justin Barrasso,
Boston Herald,
8 Nov. 2025
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Without its dynamic starting quarterback, the Cougars were outpaced by visiting Inglewood, which pounded the rock in a 40-16 victory on Friday at Saddleback College.—
Zach Cavanagh,
Oc Register,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Children fidgeted in the relentless August heat.—
Jacqui Gifford,
Travel + Leisure,
29 Sep. 2025
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People with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism may share symptoms like fidgeting and restlessness.—
Laura Dorwart,
Health,
29 Sep. 2025
Verb
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There were some frightening moments early Monday for a Miramar man after police say he was pistol whipped during a home invasion and his French bulldog was stolen.—
Steven Yablonski,
CBS News,
5 Jan. 2026
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Or whips around his defender in a bold pirouette.—
Julia Poe,
Chicago Tribune,
4 Jan. 2026
Verb
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No sound effect makes people squirm quite like grinding teeth.—
William Earl,
Variety,
2 Jan. 2026
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Martin is a tough, no-nonsense, Logan Roy kind of patriarch, inclined to making his children squirm.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
13 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Still seething after a sloppy 19-16 loss to the Detroit Lions, Johnson wasn’t hiding his dissatisfaction with a defeat that seemed to diminish his team’s momentum.—
Dan Wiederer,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
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But the jury in the federal civil lawsuit found that Moore violated Gillispie's rights by hiding evidence that would have helped Gillispie's defense and creating unfair lineup procedures for the victims.—
Laura A. Bischoff,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
7 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Thresh.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/thresh. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
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