threshold

threshold
\ \ [OE] The first element of threshold is identical with English thresh [OE]. This seems to go back ultimately to a prehistoric source that denoted ‘making noise’ (the apparently related Old Church Slavonic tresku meant ‘crash’, and Lithuanian has trešketi ‘crack, rattle’). By the time it reached Germanic, as *thresk-, it was probably being used for ‘stamp the feet noisily’, and it is this secondary notion of ‘stamping’ or ‘treading’ that lies behind threshold – as being something you ‘tread’ on as you go through a door. Thresh by the time it reached English had specialized further still, to mean ‘separate grains from husks by stamping’, and this later evolved to simply ‘separate grains from husks’. Thrash [OE], which originated as a variant of thresh, has taken the further semantic step to ‘beat, hit’. It is not known where the second element of threshold came from.
\ \ Cf.⇒ THRASH, THRESH

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Threshold — may refer to:Books and comics* Threshold (novel), a 1985 science fiction novel by David R. Palmer * Threshold (Sara Douglass novel), a 1997 fantasy novel by Sara Douglass * Threshold , a 2001 science fiction novel by Caitlín R. KiernanFilm and… …   Wikipedia

  • threshold — thresh‧old [ˈθreʆhəʊld, ʆəʊld ǁ oʊld] noun [countable] the level at which something belongs in a particular class or is affected by a particular rule: • Many large mortgages were taken out, on the assumption that interest rates would remain below …   Financial and business terms

  • threshold — thresh·old 1 / thresh ˌhōld/ n: a point of beginning: a minimum requirement for further action; specif: a determination (as of fact or the existence of a reasonable doubt) upon which something else (as further consideration or a right of action)… …   Law dictionary

  • Threshold — (engl. für „Schwelle“) bezeichnet einen Begriff aus der Teilchenphysik, siehe Schwellenergie einen Arbeitspunkt in MOS Transistoren (dt. Schwellspannung), siehe Metall Oxid Halbleiter Feldeffekttransistor einen Optimierungsalgorithmus, siehe… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • threshold — [thresh′ōld΄, thresh′hōld΄] n. [ME threschwold < OE therscwold (akin to ON threskǫlder) < base of therscan (see THRASH) + ?] 1. DOORSILL 2. the entrance or beginning point of something [at the threshold of a new career] 3. Physiol. Psychol …   English World dictionary

  • Threshold — Thresh old, n. [OE. threswold, [thorn]reshwold, AS. [thorn]rescwald, [thorn]erscwald, [thorn]erscold, [thorn]rescold, fr. [thorn]rescan, [thorn]erscan, to thresh; akin to Icel. [thorn]reskj[ o]de, [thorn]r[ o]skuldr, Sw. tr[ o]skel, Dan.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • threshold — O.E. þrescold, þærscwold, þerxold doorsill, point of entering, first element related to O.E. þrescan (see THRESH (Cf. thresh)), with its original sense of tread, trample. Second element of unknown origin and much transformed in all the Germanic… …   Etymology dictionary

  • threshold — threshold. См. порог. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • Threshold —   [englisch, θreʃəʊld; wörtlich »Schwelle«], an bestimmten Effektgeräten (Flanger, Limiter, Noisegate u. a.) einstellbarer Pegel (Schwellwert), bei dessen Erreichen der beabsichtigte Effekt ausgelöst wird …   Universal-Lexikon

  • threshold —  Threshold  Пороговый сигнал   Наименьший сигнал на входе приемного устройства, при котором обеспечивается его регистрация с заданной достоверностью …   Толковый англо-русский словарь по нанотехнологии. - М.

  • threshold — is spelt with one h (contrast withhold), and the h is optionally silent or aspirated in speech …   Modern English usage

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