▪ I. thrush1
(θrʌʃ)
Forms: 1 ðræsce, þrysce, þryssce, þrisce, 3 þrusche (ü), þruysse (for þrüshe), 4 þrusch, 5–6 thrusshe, thrushe (5 thryshe, thrusche, thrus, 7 thresh); 6– thrush.
[Two ablaut-forms in OE.: αþr{yacu}sce, later þryssce, wk. fem.:—O. Teut. *þrûskjôn. For the change of vowel in ME. þrusche, thrush, cf. clutch, crutch, rush, thrutch, with u (ʌ) from y (y); in 15th c., some dialects retained þruysse (= þrüshe) and thryshe, and thrice-cock (for thrȳshe-cock) is still a dialect-name of the missel-thrush. βOE. had a 800 Anglian þrǽsce = WSax. *þréasce = OHG. drôsca:—OTeut. *þrauskôn. Examples of this form are rare, and indeed not yet cited in ME., where it would be *þresche, *thresshe; but thresh occurs in 17th c., and the derivative thresher is dialectal in Oxfordsh. and Berksh. Cf. also the U.S. thrasher. There are also the derivative forms thrushel, thrishel, thrissel, from the α type: see thrushel.]
1. a. Historically, A name of two British and general European birds; (1) primarily, and without qualification, that also called Throstle and Mavis, distinctively Song-thrush (Turdus musicus); (2) the Mistletoe thrush, Mistle-, or Missel-thrush (T. viscivorus), a larger and less musical species. Thence extended (with qualifications) by ornithologists to other species of the genus Turdus (many of which, in vernacular language, have other names, and are not regarded as thrushes), or more widely, to all members of the family Turdidæ. By colonists, travellers, etc., transferred, with qualifications, to birds of other lands, allied to the European thrushes, or merely resembling these in general appearance or some feature; see b.
The song-thrush is locally known as throstle and mavis, dialectally thrushel, thrustle, thrusher, thrushfield, whistling thrush; the missel-thrush, as bull thrush, gawthrush, holm-t., horse-t., marble-t., Norman t., stone-t., wood-t., thrush-cock, throstle-cock, storm-cock, etc. In OE. and ME., thrush and throstle are sometimes mentioned as distinct birds: see throstle. Among the thrushes (Turdi) of ornithology, are the redwing, fieldfare, blackbird, ring-ouzel, of Great Britain, and the robin, veery, hermit-thrush, wood-thrush, and other species of North America.
| α c 1000 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 260/30 Trutius, þrisce. c 1000 Voc. ibid. 286/23 Strutio, þryssce. a 1250 Owl & Night. 1659 Þruysse [MS. Cott. þrusche] & þrostle & wode⁓wale. c 1350 Will. Palerne 820 Briddes þat bliþeliche song, Boþe þe þrusch & þe þrustele. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) v. v. (1859) 76, I bethought me vppon the byrdes as thrusshes, and thrustels, and stares whiche I haue sene. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 595/20 Mauiscus, anglice a thryshe. 14.. Nom. ibid. 702/39 Hic garulus, a thrus. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 438 Of quayle, sparow, larke,..pygeoun, swalow, thrusche, osulle. 1530 Palsgr. 281/1 Thrusshe a byrde, gryue. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. iv. 17 Abrode to wend, To take the ayre and heare the thrushes song. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia ii. 27 There are..Thrushes and divers sorts of small Birds. 1668 Charleton Onomast. 83 Turdus,..the Thrush, Song-Thrush, or Throssle, or Mavis. 1746 Francis tr. Horace, Epist. i. xv. 51 A fat Thrush is most delightful Food, And a Swine's Paunch superlatively good. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. ii, The blackbird and the speckled thrush Good-morrow gave from brake and bush. |
| β c 725 Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.) 2063 Truitius, ðræsce. c 1676 Roxb. Ball. (1886) VI. 305 ‘Oh!’ says the squeaking little Thresh, ‘My Sorrows now begin afresh’. [1904 Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v. Thrusher, Also in form thresher Oxf., Bucks... The song-thrush.] |
b. With qualifying words (indicating native country, colour, food, habits, etc.) applied to various species of the genus Turdus or family Turdidæ; also popularly to numerous species of other families (starlings, warblers, shrikes, etc.) more or less resembling the true thrushes: as
babbling thrush: = thrush-babbler in 4. Chinese thrush, Trochalopterum canorum; † golden thrush: early name of the Golden Oriole. harmonic thrush, Collyriocincla harmonica, of Australia. long-legged thrush, any bird of Swainson's subfamily Crateropodinæ, also called babblers, formerly classed with the thrushes. migratory thrush, the American robin. New York thrush, an American Water-thrush, Seiurus nævius. olive-backed thrush = olive-back. Pacific thrush, a Polynesian bird, Lalage pacifica. red thrush, red-breasted thrush, the American robin. shining thrush, a W. African glossy starling, Lamprocolius splendidus. shrike-thrush: see shrike. songster thrush, Calornis panayensis, of the Philippines. spectacle thrush, Garrulax perspicillatus, of Southern China and Thailand. varied thrush, the Oregon robin, Hesperocichla nævia. whidah thrush, a W. African starling, Pholidauges leucogaster. Wilson's thrush, the veery of N. America. wind-thrush, local name of the redwing. wine thrush, a S. African species, Turdus olivaceus. See also ant-thrush, ground-thrush, hermit-thrush, rock-thrush, water-thrush, wood-thrush.
| a 1705 Ray Syn. Avium & P. (1713) 64 Turdus viscivorus minor.., the Mavis, Throstle, or Song-Thrush... Turdus Iliacus.., the Red-Wing, Swine Pipe or Wind-Thrush. 1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope II. 160 The Wine-thrushes have their name from their loving of grape-stones. 1750 Edwards Nat. Hist. Birds III. 185 The Golden Thrush. Icterus... They are found in the Southern Parts of Europe all the Summer Season. 1754 Catesby Nat. Hist. Carolina (ed. 2) I. 30 The red-leg'd Thrush, Turdus viscivorus plumbeus. Ibid. 31 The little Thrush (Turdus minimus). In shape and colour it agrees with the description of the European Mavis, or Song-Thrush, differing only in bigness. 1783 Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds II. i. 36 Chinese Thrush, less than a Redwing. Ibid. 61 Spectacle Thrush, a Trifle bigger than a Blackbird. a 1792 S. Hearne Journ. Northern Ocean x. (1795) 418 The Red-breasted Thrushes, commonly called in Hudson's Bay..Red Birds. 1827 Audubon Jrnls. 2 May, The Red Thrush. 1843 Ibid. 27 May, This morning my ears were saluted by the delightful song of the Red Thrush. 1898 Morris Austral Eng., Thrush,..applied in Australia and New Zealand to four [sic] different genera of birds, viz.—(1) Collyriocincla, the Shrike-Thrushes... (2) Geocincla, the Ground-Thrushes. (3) Oreocincla, the Mountain-Thrush. (4) Pachycephala; called Thrushes, but more often Thickheads. (5) Turnagra (the New Zealand Thrushes). |
† 2. sea-thrush, thrush-fish, names given (after L. turdus) to various species of wrasse (Labrus), of which L. turdus is common in the Mediterranean; L. maculatus the Ballan wrasse, and L. mixtus the striped wrasse, are found also on the British coasts.
| 1601 Holland Pliny ix. xv. I. 244 Of Stone-fishes, such as live among rocks, the sea Thrush, the sea Merle, and the purple shell-fishes are not to be found. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 235 Thrush-fish... They are very difficultly concocted yet Pliny counteth them good. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 97/2 The Sea-thrush and Whiting feed best among the Rocks. |
3. fig. A female singer. U.S.
| 1940 Amer. Speech XV. 205/1 Thrush, a songstress. 1966 Crescendo Oct. 31/2 She has established herself as one of the best female thrushes in this area. 1982 B. Fantoni Stickman iv. 38 The band's thrush and Moons argued so long over the tempo to play ‘Lover Man’ we ditched it. |
4. Comb. as thrush-haunted, thrush-like adjs.; thrush-babbler = babbler 4; thrush-blackbird, a name for the Rusty Grackle, Scolecophagus ferrugineus (Cent. Dict. 1891); thrush-breast a., speckled like a thrush's breast; † thrush-fish = sea-thrush (sense 2 above); thrush-nightingale, a nightingale (Daulias philomela) with a slightly speckled breast, found in central and eastern Europe; thrush-tit, a book-name for birds of the genus Cochoa (or Xanthogenys), inhabiting the Himalayas, China, and Java (Cent. Dict. 1891).
| 1878 P. Robinson In my Indian Gard. ii. 83 The feeble-winged *thrush-babblers were wrangling over worms. |
| 1896 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 191 [The walls of the fatty heart] frequently present a ‘tabby-cat’ or ‘*thrush-breast’ appearance. |
| 1905 Speaker 9 Sept. 548 *Thrush-haunted woods and peaceful shades. |
| 1842 Penny Cycl. XXIII. 173/1 The chief peculiarities of the grakles, viz. the strong *thrush⁓like bill [etc.]. 1872 Coues N. Amer. Birds 76 Aquatic thrush-like birds. |
| 1840 Penny Cycl. XVI. 231/1 The *Thrush Nightingale..inhabiting central Europe. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 30 Nov. 12/1 Known as the thrush nightingale, and in Germany as the ‘Sprosser’. |
▪ II. thrush2
(θrʌʃ)
[Not known in either sense before the 17th c., though the phonology of the word, with þ and sh, indicates English origin, and points to an OE. *þrusc. The only continental cognates appear to be, in sense 1, Sw. and ODa. t{obar}rsk, Da. troske, Sw. dial. trosk, which Falk and Torp refer to an ON. *þruskr. See Note below.]
1. A disease, chiefly of infants, characterized by white vesicular specks on the inside of the mouth and throat, and on the lips and tongue, caused by a parasitic fungus (see thrush-fungus in 3); scientifically called aphtha or parasitic stomatitis. Also, an infection of any other part with the same fungus, esp. of a woman's vagina.
| 1665 Pepys Diary 17 June, He hath a fever, a thrush and a hickup. 1712 Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 47 A Gargle of it cures the Thrush. 1828 A. E. Bray Protestant xvii. (1884) 180 The thrush, colic, and other disorders incidental to children. 1877 Roberts Handbk. Med. (ed. 3) I. 289 Thrush is frequently associated with typhoid fever. 1967 Current Medicine & Drugs Dec. 4/1 The occurrence of Thrush Bowel Infection after antibiotics is..argued by the makers of Nystatin. 1970 Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. II. xviii. 19/2 Vaginal thrush is fairly commonly associated with pregnancy. 1977 Spare Rib Jan. 36/1 Thrush is very irritating and can make you extremely sore if it's allowed to continue. |
2. In the horse, An inflammation of the lower surface of the frog of the hoof, accompanied with a fetid discharge. Cf. frush n.2
| 1753 J. Bartlet Gentl. Farriery (1754) 319 Of the Running Thrush. Bathe the thrush with this, wherever there appears a more than ordinary moisture, and lay over the ulcer a little tow dipped in the same. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 154 It had a thrush, spavins and contracted knees. 1831 [Youatt] Horse xvi. 307 Thrush is a discharge of offensive matter from the cleft of the frog. It is inflammation of the lower surface of the sensible frog. |
3. Comb.: thrush-fungus, the parasitic fungus Candida albicans, which causes thrush (sense 1); thrush-lichen, thrush-moss, a species of lichen, Peltigera aphthosa, found on moist alpine rocks, and used in Sweden boiled in milk as a cure for thrush (sense 1); thrush-paste, an astringent paste for curing thrush in horses (sense 2).
| 1759 Stillingfl. Misc. Tracts (1775) 217 The countrey people taught us the virtues of the thrush-moss for sore throats. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Thrush Lichen, the Peltidea apthosa. 1888 Cassell's Encycl. Dict., Thrush-lichen... Thrush-paste. 1899 J. Cagney Jaksch's Clin. Diagn. iii. (ed. 4) 113 In a few cases, thrush-fungus and vegetations have been found in the nose. |
[Note. Norw. has fr{obar}sk, frosk ‘thrush’, phonetically identical with frosk frog; cf. Norw. dial. trausk = frausk, ‘frog’, which seems to rest upon an old phonetic confusion of *þruskr and froskr. Some would connect this with the fact that Gr. βάτραχος and L. rāna, rānula, ‘frog’, were also names of a disease in the mouth of cattle. The evidence of Eng. is however that *þrosc = ON. *þruskr, was the orig. word for the disease in sense 1. The connexion of sense 2 is not explained; can it be connected with Da. tr{obar}ske rotten or decayed wood, ‘rottenness in the bones’?]
▪ III. thrush
variant of thurse, goblin.
▪ IV. thrush, thrush-bush
see thrash n.2