thwack
English
Etymology
From a variant (influenced by whack) of Middle English thakken (“to stroke”), from Old English þaccian (“to touch gently, stroke, tap”), from Proto-West Germanic *þakkōn, from Proto-Germanic *þakwōną (“to touch lightly”), from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to touch”).
Cognate with Old Dutch þakolōn (“to stroke”), Old Norse þykkr (“a thwack, thump, blow”), Icelandic þjökka, þjaka (“to thwack, thump, beat”), Norwegian tjåka (“to strike, beat”), Latin tangō (“touch”). More at tangent.
It should also be noted that early foreign scribes of Middle English confused "th" and "wh", as did some writers. This disappeared for the most part once Middle English spelling had developed. Doublet of thack.
Pronunciation
- enPR: thwăk, IPA(key): /θwæk/
- Rhymes: -æk
Audio (UK) (file)
Noun
thwack (plural thwacks)
- The act of thwacking; a strike or blow, especially with a flat implement.
- A heavy slapping sound.
Translations
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Verb
thwack (third-person singular simple present thwacks, present participle thwacking, simple past and past participle thwacked)
- To hit with a flat implement.
- 1820 January 1, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Christmas Day”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number V, New York, N.Y.: […] C. S. Van Winkle, […], OCLC 1090970992, page 423:
- I had finished my toilet, and was loitering with Frank Bracebridge in the library, when we heard a distant thwacking sound, which he informed me was a signal for the serving up of the dinner.
- 1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 24:
- The batsman swung and thwacked it behind him over the sight-screens.
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- To beat.
- To fill to overflow.
- 1582, Richard Stanihurst, The First Foure Bookes of Virgil his Aeneis:
- Of ruffe raffe roaring , with thwick thwack thurlery
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Derived terms
- thwackee
- thwacker
Translations
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