thump meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

thump

noun

/θʌmp/

Etymology Mid 16th century, probably imitative.

A blow that produces a muffled sound.

... and so the universal thump is passed round, and all hands should rub each other’s shoulder-blades, and be content.1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 1:
The watchman gave so very great a thump at my door last night, that I awakened at the knock.1710 January 3 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Richard Steele et al.], “Friday, December 24, 1709”, in The Tatler, number 111; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume II, London: I. Walker and Co.; […], 1822, →OCLC:

The sound of such a blow; a thud.

An interesting feature of the church is the invisible clock, which you can hear thumping away as you enter. Constructed in 1525, it is one of the oldest timepieces in England. It chimes the hours and the quarters, and every three hours it plays a hymn. But it has no faces.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 163:

Colloquial, Dated, Euphemistic Used to replace the vulgar or blasphemous element in "what the hell" and similar phrases.

Business, Mining Synonym of bump (“sudden movement of underground strata”).

Derived terms: callithump, ecky thump, kerthump, thump-cushion, thump-thump, tubthump

verb

Etymology Mid 16th century, probably imitative.

UK To hit (someone or something) as if to make a thump.

These bastard Bretons, whom our fathers / Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and thump'd.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
Kasper Schmeichel brilliantly denied Marouane Chamakh before Bacary Sagna thumped home a second, though Bradley Johnson's screamer halved the deficit.2011 January 19, Jonathan Stevenson, “Leeds 1-3 Arsenal”, in BBC:

To cause to make a thumping sound.

To thud or pound.

To throb with a muffled rhythmic sound.

Dance music thumped from the nightclub entrance.
Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:

(of a rabbit) to hit the ground with the back legs to signal agitation.

Derived terms: bethump, Bible thumping, heart-thumping, Koran thumping, Quran thumping, thumper, thumpity, thumpy, tub-thumping, unthumped