Толковый словарь английского языка

[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. | 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. | 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. | 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. | 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. | 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? | I don’t agree with smacking. | In those days, children were spanked if they behaved badly.

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. | 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. | 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. | 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 | 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 | 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. | the rattle of the trolley