Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
THRESH
thrash, thresh, lam, flail
(verb) give a thrashing to; beat hard
thrash, thresh
(verb) beat the seeds out of a grain
convulse, thresh, thresh about, thrash, thrash about, slash, toss, jactitate
(verb) move or stir about violently; “The feverish patient thrashed around in his bed”
flail, thresh
(verb) move like a flail; thresh about; “Her arms were flailing”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
thresh (third-person singular simple present threshes, present participle threshing, simple past and past participle threshed)
(transitive, agriculture) To separate the grain from the straw or husks (chaff) by mechanical beating, with a flail or machinery.
(transitive, literary) To beat soundly, usually with some tool such as a stick or whip; to drub.
Synonyms
• thrash
Source: Wiktionary
Thrash, Thresh, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Thrashed; p. pr. & vb. n. Thrashing.] Etym: [OE. , , to beat, AS. , ; akin to D. dorschen, OD. derschen, G. dreschen, OHG. dreskan, Icel. , Sw. tröska, Dan. tærske, Goth. , 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. The wheat was reaped, thrashed, and winnowed by machines. H. Spencer.
2. To beat soundly, as with a stick or whip; to drub.
Thrash, 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.
2. Hence, to labor; to toil; also, to move violently. I rather would be Mævius, thrash for rhymes, Like his, the scorn and scandal of the times. Dryden.
Thresh, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Threshed; p. pr. & vb. n. Threshing.]
Definition: Same as Thrash. He would thresh, and thereto dike and delve. Chaucer.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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