percussive maintenance
nounUK /pəˈkʌsɪv ˈmeɪnt(ə)nəns/ · US /pɚˈkʌsɪv ˈmeɪnt(ə)nəns/
1
Humorous The use of physical concussion, such as a knock or a tap, in an attempt to make a malfunctioning device work.
- If percussive maintenance and other home remedies have failed, you should try running a general diagnostic utility. Better yet, run several.1986, Neil J. Rubenking, PC Magazine: The Independent Guide to IBM-standard Personal Computing, volume 19, New York, N.Y.: PC Communications Corp., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 229, column 2:
- Early trips reported trouble that seemed to be fixed by using a wrench to apply repeated doses of percussive maintenance.1996, Alex Law, “Benz touts hydrogen-based fuel cell”, in Toronto Star:
3 more examples
- There was a time when all that was required to use the office copier, printer or fax machine was the ability to fish out paper jams and a knack for percussive maintenance – known in layman's terms as a good hard thump.2002 July 30, Adam Turner, “Multi-function devices ‘present untapped opportunities’”, in The Sydney Morning Herald, archived from the original on 25 Jul 2014:
- Babies react with rage when their arms are suddenly pinned at their sides, and adults may lash out by swearing or breaking things when they hit their thumb with a hammer or are surprised by not getting what they expect (as in the technique of computer repair called percussive maintenance).2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence has Declined, New York, N.Y.: Viking Books, →ISBN:
- An example for such can be ""percussive maintenance"", which is the art of utilizing physical measures (typically physical blows, hence the name) for an item to re-function.2022, Strack, Defèr et al., “Development of a Learning Game for the Implementation of Maintenance & Reliability Systems for Onshore Wind Parks”, in CPSL Proceedings, page 341:
- Synonyms
- technical tap, mechanical agitation