thresher

/ˈθrɛʃər/

Other forms: threshers

A machine or tool used for separating seeds from a grain can be called a thresher. The mechanical thresher was invented in the 18th century.

Threshers have simplified the work of agriculture, automating a job that humans once spent tedious hours doing. A combine is an even more efficient machine, combining a thresher and a harvester—it picks the grain and separates its seeds. A scythe is a curved knife used for hand threshing, and the thresher shark gets its name from a resemblance to this tool.

Definitions of thresher

1. noun

   a farm machine for separating seeds or grain from the husks and straw
   synonyms: thrasher, threshing machine

   type of:

   farm machine

   a machine used in farming
2. noun

   large pelagic shark of warm seas with a whiplike tail used to round up small fish on which to feed
   synonyms: Alopius vulpinus, fox shark, thrasher, thresher shark

   type of:

   shark

   any of numerous elongate mostly marine carnivorous fishes with heterocercal caudal fins and tough skin covered with small toothlike scales