whump


Also found in: Thesaurus, Idioms, Encyclopedia.

whump

 (wŭmp; hwŭmp)
n.
A thump; a thud.
v. whumped, whump·ing, whumps
v.intr.
To make a thumping or thudding sound.
v.tr.
To hit or strike with such a sound.

[Imitative.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

whump

(wʌmp)
n
informal a dull thud
[C19: of imitative origin]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

thump

(θʌmp)

n.
1. a blow or knock with a heavy object, producing a dull sound.
2. the sound made by or as if by such a blow.
v.t.
3. to strike or beat with a heavy object, so as to produce a dull sound; pound.
4. (of an object) to strike against (something) heavily and noisily.
5. to thrash severely.
v.i.
6. to strike or fall heavily, with a dull sound.
7. to palpitate or beat violently, as the heart.
[1530–40; imitative]
thump′er, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in periodicals archive ?
I'm just registering that when a noise to the left heralds the arrival of the backpack's owner, who then sits down, with a whump, in the seat NEXT TO ME.
So perhaps that "whump" was her way of telling me that I had sat down in HIS seat and her distress was too visceral to articulate.
"So me and Bevs (Stuart Beavon) are together and he's defending -- with me on the keeper -- when the ball's been whipped in andJordan Willisof all people runs in and WHUMP!
He's killed a distemper-ravaged dog with one blow of a thick tree branch and a full grown steer by setting the barrel of a shotgun just above its eyes and pulling the trigger, whump. A human would be about midway between these but there would be a password that accessed the bomb codes to repeat to the captain as well.
A thudding "whump" that can be felt through your feet makes you glad your positioning estimations were correct.
Then, whump, as we bottom out, and climb back up to the cloud ceiling.
Suddenly a friend phoned to say they were packing up and I looked again and it just went up - whump. I grabbed our passports and I ran out."
It is the job of the author to maintain that world, to hold the reader suspended throughout the entire book, and to prevent him or her from falling out of the fictional world with an ungraceful "whump."
At the shot we could hear the solid whump of the .270 bullet, but he kept on running, disappearing over the next rise.
Just then, the Malian butcher raised his ax and brought it down with a whump to hack off a hunk of beef.
I thrill to the skirl of the bagpipes and the whump, whump, whump of the big bass drums.
During the next fireworks display, listen for the source of "the bombs bursting in air," the muted Whump! Whump!