[f. THRASH, THRESH v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb THRASH or THRESH in various senses. (For the status of the spellings, see the vb.)
I. 1. Beating with or as with a flail; esp. the separation of grain from the straw by beating or otherwise.
1382. Wyclif, Hos. x. 11. Effraym a cow calf, tauȝt for to loue thresshyng.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. IX. 199. In þresshynge, in þecchynge, in thwytynge of pynnes.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XVIII. xxx. 1. 602. The good redbearded wheat Far … commeth hardly out of the huske, and asketh some painefull thrashing.
1877. Talmage, Serm., 378. In Grace, as in farming, there is a time for threshing.
1898. Westm. Gaz., 31 Jan., 2/1. No break or variety in the low, dark clouds, or the steady threshing of the rain.
b. That which is threshed; the grain obtained by threshing.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xxi. 10. My thressing, and the doȝter of my cornflor.
1898. Westm. Gaz., 21 April, 2/1. The British farmer who has not yet sold last year’s thrashing will thus reap the benefit of the higher prices.
II. 2. Beating or flogging, esp. by way of punishment; an instance of this. (Regularly thrashing.)
1843. Bethune, Sc. Fireside Stor., 111. The benefit of the instructions and thrashings of … the parish schoolmaster.
1863. P. Barry, Dockyard Econ., 53. Gifts of that kind … are viewed in the light of schoolboy indulgences after a severe thrashing.
1875. A. R. Hope, Schoolboy Friends, 80. I’ll give you the greatest thrashing you ever had.
b. A defeat in battle or in any contest.
1815. Ld. Apsley, in Stocqueler, Wellington (1853), II. App. 340. I think the French will get such a thrashing as they have seldom had.
1885. L’pool Daily Post, 1 June, 5/4. The county suffered a ‘one innings’ thrashing [at cricket] at the hands of their antagonists.
3. transf.: see senses 7 and 8 of the verb.
1886. R. C. Leslie, Sea Painter’s Log, 115. Much thrashing to and fro in the chops of the Channel.
1895. Outing (U.S.), XXVII. 50/1. I knew from the thrashing going on … that the game was mine.
4. attrib. and Comb., as thrashing- or threshing-barn, -flail, etc.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. l. 10. Thei camen to the thresshyng feelde of Adad.
1560. Bible (Genev.), Amos i. 3. Thei haue threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of yron.
1609. Bible (Douay), Isa. xli. 15. I have made thee as a new threshing wayne, having teeth like a saw.
1812. Sir J. Sinclair, Syst. Husb. Scot., I. 15. The threshing-barn … must be sufficiently spacious to contain one stack of grain in the straw. Ibid., 72. The threshing-mill has generally one set of fanners attached to it, driven by a belt from the end of the axle of the threshing drum.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 267. No corn should be presented until the mill has acquired its proper momentum, the thrashing-motion, as it is termed.
1865. Miss Cary, Ball. & Lyrics, 140.
| The brown-cheeked farmer-boy | |
| Who … cut my name upon his thrashing-flail. |
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2557/1. Rollers which carry the grain in the straw from the feed-board to the thrashing cylinder.
