throstle
/ˈθrɒs(ə)l
/noun
1British old-fashioned term for song thrush.Coleridge also saw a bird in a larch tree, a ‘throstle’ or thrush in a larch appears in a version of what became his Dejection Ode....
- But at least the throstle is still there, keeping the memory and the spirit alive and that is very important.
- A stone along the way shows the nest of the throstle, or thrush, no doubt because the town is sometimes referred to as the’ throstle's nest of England.’
2 (also throstle frame) historical A machine for continuously spinning wool or cotton.Additionally, the historical development of the site appeared to reflect the progression of spinning technology through the water and throstle frames, and the self-acting mule....
- Mule and ring spinning started in place of the throstle frames.
- He had carding machinery and 9,000 throstle frame spinning spindles in a three storey building alongside the brook, and 240 looms in a weaving shed alongside Chaddock Lane.
Origin
Old English, of Germanic origin, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin turdus 'thrush'. sense 2 dates from the early 19th century and was apparently named from the humming sound of the machine.