• Thrash

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /θɹæʃ/
    • Rhymes: -æʃ

    Origin

    From Middle English thrasshen, a dialectal variant of thresshen, threshen (whence the modern English thresh), from Old English þrescan, from Proto-Germanic *þreskaną, whence also Old High German dreskan, Old Norse þreskja.

    Full definition of thrash

    Verb

    1. To beat mercilessly.
    2. To defeat utterly.
      • 2011, January 8, Paul Fletcher, Stevenage 3 - 1 Newcastle, Pardew made five changes to the side that thrashed West Ham 5-0 on Wednesday - with players such as James Perch and Alan Smith given the chance to underline their case for a regular starting berth.
    3. To thresh.
    4. To move about wildly or violently; to flail; to labour.
      • circa 1690 Juvenal, (translator), , 1987, John Dryden: The Major Works, Oxford University Press, page 364,I rather would be Maevius, thrash for rhymes,
        Like his, the scorn and scandal of the times.
    5. (software) To extensively test a software system, giving a program various inputs and observing the behavior and outputs that result.
    6. (computing) In computer architecture, to cause poor performance of a virtual memory (or paging) system.

    Related terms

    Noun

    thrash

    (uncountable)
    1. A beat or blow; the sound of beating.
      • 1918, Henry Adams, ,Even among friends at the dinner-table he talked as though he were denouncing them, or someone else, on a platform; he measured his phrases, built his sentences, cumulated his effects, and pounded his opponents, real or imagined. His humor was glow, like iron at dull heat; his blow was elementary, like the thrash of a whale.
      • 1934 May, Robert E. Howard, in ,As he reeled on wide-braced legs, sobbing for breath, the jungle and the moon swimming bloodily to his sight, the thrash of bat-wings was loud in his ears.
    2. (music) A particularly aggressive and intense form of heavy metal music with a focus on speed, technical precision, and alternate picking.

    Synonyms

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