I. thump 1 /θʌmp/ BrE AmE verb
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Origin: From the sound ]
1 . [transitive] informal to hit someone very hard with your hand closed:
If you don’t shut up, I’m going to thump you!
She thumped the table with her fist.
2 . [intransitive, transitive always + adverb/preposition] to hit against something loudly:
His feet thumped loudly on the bare boards.
He thumped his cup down on the table.
3 . [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to walk or run with your feet making a loud heavy sound as they touch the ground:
Stella came thumping down the stairs.
4 . [intransitive] if your heart thumps, it beats very strongly and quickly because you are frightened or excited:
My heart was thumping inside my chest.
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THESAURUS
■ to hit someone
▪ hit to hit someone quickly and hard with your hand, a stick etc:
He hit him hard in the stomach.
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I don’t like to see people hitting a dog.
▪ beat to hit someone deliberately many times, especially very hard:
The girl had been beaten to death.
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He was beating the donkey with a stick.
▪ strike written to hit someone with your hand or a weapon. Strike is more formal than hit and is mainly used in written English:
Her husband struck her twice across the face.
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Police say that the man had been struck on the head.
▪ punch to hit someone hard with your closed hand, especially in a fight:
I punched him on the nose.
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She was screaming and punching him with her fists.
▪ thump /θʌmp/ informal to punch someone very hard:
Sometimes I just want to thump him.
▪ beat somebody up to hurt someone badly in a violent attack, by hitting them many times:
If I tell the police, they'll beat me up.
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He had been beaten up and tortured with lighted cigarettes.
▪ slap to hit someone with your open hand, especially because you are angry with them:
They had a big row and she ended up slapping him.
▪ spank ( also smack especially British English ) to hit someone, especially a child, with your open hand in order to punish them:
Should a parent ever smack a child?
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I don’t agree with smacking.
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In those days, children were spanked if they behaved badly.
II. thump 2 BrE AmE noun [countable]
1 . the dull sound that is made when something hits a surface:
The box fell to the floor with a thump.
2 . [usually singular] especially British English an action in which you hit someone or something:
If he does that again, I’ll give him a good thump.
a thump on the jaw
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THESAURUS
■ made by things hitting other things
▪ bang a loud sound caused especially when something hard or heavy hits something else:
I heard a loud bang and rushed out to see what had happened.
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He slammed the door shut with a bang.
▪ crash a very loud sound caused when something hits something else, especially when damage is caused:
The tray of dishes fell to the floor with a crash.
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I heard an enormous crash outside our house, and I went to see what had happened.
▪ thud a quiet low sound made when a heavy object falls down onto surface:
There was a dull thud as the box hit the floor.
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His head hit the ground with a sickening thud.
▪ thump a dull loud sound made when a heavy object hits something else:
There was a loud thump as Eddie threw Luther back against the wall.
▪ clink a short ringing sound made when two glass, metal, or china objects hit each other:
the clink of champagne glasses
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The clink of cutlery could be heard in the restaurant.
▪ tinkle the pleasant sound that is made by light pieces of glass or metal hitting each other repeatedly:
He listened to the faint tinkle of cow bells in the distance.
▪ jingle the sound of small metal objects being shaken together:
the jingle of her bracelets
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the jingle of keys
▪ rattle a short repeated sound made when things hit against each other - used especially when part of something is loose and is hitting against something:
There was a strange rattle coming from the engine.
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the rattle of the trolley