thresher
2 synonyms for thresher, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — A farm machine that separates grain from the rest of the plant, now usually part of a combine harvester.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. noun agriculture
A farm machine that separates grain from the rest of the plant, now usually part of a combine harvester.
“The thresher separated the grain from the straw.”
2. noun zoology
A large shark with a very long tail, short for thresher shark.
“A thresher was spotted off the coast.”
How to use thresher
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
The farming sense is specialist, and the shark sense is a zoological shortening.
Etymology
Thresher comes from Middle English threschere, formed from thresh plus the ending -er. The shark is thought to be named because its tail resembles the farming tool.
Full origin of thresher →