thrash

thrash (θræʃ)
—vb
1.	(tr) to beat soundly, as with a whip or stick
2.	(tr) to defeat totally; overwhelm
3.	(intr) to beat or plunge about in a wild manner
4.	(intr) to move the legs up and down in the water, as in certain swimming strokes
5.	to sail (a boat) against the wind or tide or (of a boat) to sail in this way
6.	another word for thresh
—n
7.	the act of thrashing; blow; beating
8.	informal a party or similar social gathering
[Old English threscan; related to Old High German dreskan, Old Norse thriskja]

thrash

heavy metal music first called by this name 1982.

thrash

vi. To move wildly or violently, without accomplishing anything useful. Paging or swapping systems that are overloaded waste most of their time moving data into and out of core (rather than performing useful computation) and are therefore said to thrash. Someone who keeps changing his mind (esp. about what to work on next) is said to be thrashing. A person frantically trying to execute too many tasks at once (and not spending enough time on any single task) may also be described as thrashing. Compare multitask.

thrash definition

To move wildly or violently, without accomplishing anything useful. Paging or swapping systems that are overloaded waste most of their time moving data into and out of core (rather than performing useful computation) and are therefore said to thrash. Thrashing can also occur in a cache due to cache conflict or in a multiprocessor (see ping-pong).
Someone who keeps changing his mind (especially about what to work on next) is said to be thrashing. A person frantically trying to execute too many tasks at once (and not spending enough time on any single task) may also be described as thrashing.
Compare multitask.
[Jargon File]