A threshing machine is a device that separates grain from straw and chaff. It's known by various synonyms depending on the region and time period. Some of the common ones are flail, winnowing machine, thrasher, thresher, drummy or separator. Before the mechanisation of farming, farmers used the flail to thresh cereal crops such as wheat, barley and oats. The winnowing machine was also used for the same purpose, but it used a fan to blow away the chaff. Thresher and thrasher are words used interchangeably to describe the machine that threshes grain. Separator and drummy are other lesser-known synonyms that have been used in the past. Regardless of the name, the threshing machine has revolutionised agriculture during the industrial era.