pit-a-pat
verbEtymology Imitative.
1
To make a series of quick tapping sounds; to palpitate
pit-a-pat
intjEtymology Imitative.
1
Representing a series of quick tapping sounds.
- Pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, the bullets kept falling and stirring up little puffs of dust on the open ground in front of the zeriba.1900 May, Frederic Villiers, “Twenty Years on the War Path. […] VII.—“My Friend Corporal Tonbar.””, in The Canadian Magazine of Politics, Science, Art and Literature, volume XV, number 1, Toronto, Ont.: The Ontario Publishing Co., Ltd., page 40, column 2:
- “Pit-a-pat! Pit-a-pat!”—On go the thousands of feet; on to the movie and on to the dance; on to the office, the club and the bank.[1921], Aimee Semple McPherson, Divine Healing Sermons, [Los Angeles, Calif.], →OCLC, page thirteen:
1 more example
- Pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, / He danced on the whiskery nose.2004, Julia Donaldson, “The Mouse and the Lion”, in Crazy Mayonnaisy Mum, Macmillan Children’s Books, published 2005, →ISBN, page 4: