Library / English Dictionary

THRASH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A swimming kick used while treading water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("thrash" is a kind of...):

swimming kick (a movement of the legs in swimming)

Holonyms ("thrash" is a part of...):

treading water (a stroke that keeps the head above water by thrashing the legs and arms)

Derivation:

thrash (move or stir about violently)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Beat thoroughly and conclusively in a competition or fight

Example:

We licked the other team on Sunday!

Synonyms:

bat; clobber; cream; drub; lick; thrash

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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

beat; beat out; crush; shell; trounce; vanquish (come out better in a competition, race, or conflict)

Verb group:

flail; lam; thrash; thresh (give a thrashing to; beat hard)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The fighter managed to thrash his opponent

Derivation:

thrashing (a sound defeat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give a thrashing to; beat hard

Synonyms:

flail; lam; thrash; thresh

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "thrash" 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 thrash the prisoners

Derivation:

thrashing (the act of inflicting corporal punishment with repeated blows)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Beat the seeds out of a grain

Synonyms:

thrash; thresh

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "thrash" 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

Derivation:

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

Sense 4

Meaning:

Move data into and out of core rather than performing useful computation

Example:

The system is thrashing again!

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

swap (move (a piece of a program) into memory, in computer science)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sense 5

Meaning:

Beat so fast that (the heart's) output starts dropping until (it) does not manage to pump out blood at all

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

beat; pound; thump (move rhythmically)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 6

Meaning:

Move or stir about violently

Example:

The feverish patient thrashed around in his bed

Synonyms:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

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

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

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

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

thrash (a swimming kick used while treading water)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Dance the slam dance

Synonyms:

mosh; slam; slam dance; thrash

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

dance; trip the light fantastic; trip the light fantastic toe (move in a pattern; usually to musical accompaniment; do or perform a dance)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue thrash

Credits

 Context examples: 

White Fang had ceased eating, lost heart, and allowed every dog of the team to thrash him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

“That’s how Jack Slack thrashed Boughton, and I myself saw Hooper, the tinman, beat to pieces by the fighting oilman. They all come to it in time, and now it’s Harrison’s turn.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And Bawn—"Ay, with our own eyes. And this continued until the bear stood suddenly upright and cried aloud in pain, and thrashed his fore paws madly about. And Keesh continued to make off over the ice to a safe distance. But the bear gave him no notice, being occupied with the misfortune the little round balls had wrought within him."

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I was too tired to thrash my arms about and warm myself, but I found strength time and again to chafe her hands and feet to restore the circulation.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

This dog was thrashing about in a death-struggle, directly on the trail, and Buck passed around him without stopping.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

I thrashed 'em.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

To be compelled to run away before the yelling pack, every dog of which, for three years, he had thrashed and mastered, was almost more than he could endure.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I noticed a black discoloration, still faintly visible, under Johansen’s eye, a mark of the thrashing he had received a few nights before from the sailor.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

This was the pride that bore up Spitz and made him thrash the sled-dogs who blundered and shirked in the traces or hid away at harness-up time in the morning.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Yet his dominant nature asserted itself, and he had first to thrash them into an acknowledgment of his superiority and leadership.

(White Fang, by Jack London)