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thrash·er

(thrăshər)

Any of various songbirds of the genus Toxostoma and other genera in the family Mimidae, found throughout the Americas and having a long tail, a long curved beak, and usually a brown head and back.

[Perhaps from English dialectal thrusher, thresher, variant of THRUSH¹ (perhaps influenced by THRASH, in reference to the bird's turning over leaf litter energetically with its beak when feeding).]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

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Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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