thwack
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: thwăk
ipa: /θwæk/
rhymes: -æk
Forms: form: thwacks
form: thwacking
form: thwacked
form: thwacked
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: thwack
form: thwack
form: thwacked
form: thwack
form: thwackest
form: thwacked
form: thwackedst
form: thwacks
form: thwacketh
form: thwacked
form: thwack
form: thwacked
form: thwack
form: thwacked
form: thwack
form: -
form: thwacking
form: thwacked
Etymology: The verb is probably:
* partly onomatopoeic, from the sound of something being beaten (compare whack); and
* partly derived from Late Middle English twakken, twake (“to hit (someone) with something; to pat; to stroke”), probably from Middle English thakken, thakke (“to dab; to pat; to stroke”) [and other forms] (whence thack (obsolete except Britain, dialectal)), from Old English þaccian (“to beat; to pat; to touch softly, stroke; to strike gently, clap, tap”), from Proto-West Germanic *þakkōn, from Proto-Germanic *þakwōną (“to pat; to tap; to touch”), from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to grasp with the hand; to touch”). Doublet of tangent.
The noun and interjection are derived from the verb.
Cognates
* Latin tangō (“touch”)
* Old Dutch þakolōn (“to stroke”)
* Old Norse þykkr (“a blow, thump, thwack”) (Icelandic þjaka, þjökka (“to beat, thump, thwack”); Norwegian tjåka (“to strike, beat”))
Senses: examples: text: This carter thwacketh his horse upon the croup, / And they began to drawen and to stoop.
ref: [1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Friar’s Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales (in Middle English), [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; Charles Cowden Clarke, editor, The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer. […], 2nd edition, volume II, Edinburgh: James Nichol; London: James Nisbet & Co.; Dublin: W. Robertson, 1860, →OCLC, page 49, lines 7141–7142:
english: This carter thrashes his horse upon the croup, / And they began to draw and to stoop.
translation: This carter thrashes his horse upon the croup, / And they began to draw and to stoop.
bold_translation_offsets: 12
20
text: Flaies lustily thwack, / least plough séede lack.
ref: 1878, Thomas Tusser, “Octobers Abstract”, in Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC; republished as W[illiam] Payne, Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editors, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], 1878, →OCLC, stanza 3, page 43:
text: Run, run, come you hither / Novv, take all my Cuſhions dovvn and thvvack them ſoundly, / After my Feaſt of Millers: for their Buttocks / Have left a peck of flovver in them, beat them carefully […]
ref: c. 1615–1620 (date written), Tho[mas] Middleton, The Mayor of Quinborough: A Comedy. […] [Hengist, King of Kent], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], published 1661, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 61:
english: Hengist, King of Kent
translation: Hengist, King of Kent
text: VVith that Nic bounc'd up vvith a Spring equal to that of one of your nimbleſt Tumblers or Rope dancers, falls foul upon John Bull to ſnatch the Cudgel he had in his Hand, that he might Thvvack Levvis vvith it.
ref: 1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “The Rest of Nic’s Fetches to Keep John out of Ecclesdoun-Castle”, in Lewis Baboon Turned Honest, and John Bull Politician. Being the Fourth Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], London: […] John Morphew, […], →OCLC, page 32:
text: 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.
ref: 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[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 423:
text: Now, great logician! nothings enemy! / Who thwacketh nothing, and its numerous fry / Of little nothings, and the nothings grown; / The fog-lost nothings; and the nothings known.
ref: 1856, Joseph Cartwright, Philpot Street: Or, The Infidels of Stepney. […], London: […] G. Rymer, […]; and published by C. Kerbey, […], →OCLC, page 9:
text: [F]ew country people there are who do not love to see two sturdy fellows thwack and belabour each other with quarter-staff, single-stick, or fists.
ref: 1881, Walter Besant, James Rice, “How Kitty First Saw the Doctor”, in The Chaplain of the Fleet […], volume I, London: Chatto and Windus, […], →OCLC, part I (Within the Rules), page 82:
text: For the poor things [worshippers] would have other idols in place of those he [the iconoclast] thwacketh upon the mazzard and dispelleth.
ref: 1906, Ambrose Bierce, “Iconoclast”, in The Cynic’s Word Book, London: Arthur F. Bird […], →OCLC, page 170:
text: The batsman swung and thwacked it [a cricket ball] behind him over the sight-screens.
ref: 1982 August, Douglas Adams, chapter 4, in Life, the Universe and Everything (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; 3), London: Pan Books, →ISBN, page 24:
synonyms: word: thack
english: obsolete except Britain, dialectal
translation: obsolete except Britain, dialectal
word: bethwack
word: bang
word: baste
word: batter
word: beat
word: belabor
word: blow
word: boom-boom
word: buffet
word: butt
word: calcitrate
word: dab
word: dash
word: dowse
word: fetch one a blow
word: flap
word: give toco
word: kick
word: knock
word: hammer
word: hit
word: impact
word: jerk
word: lunge
word: patter
word: pat
word: pelt
word: pink
word: poke
word: pummel
word: punch
word: pound
word: tap
word: thrash
word: thump
word: thwack
word: rap
word: slam
word: slap
word: smite
word: strike
word: swap
word: vapulate
word: whack
word: whip
word: yerk
glosses: To hit (someone or something) hard, especially with a flat implement or a stick; to thrash, to whack.
examples: text: But let him ſvveare ſo, and he ſhall not ſtay, / VVee'l thvvack him hence vvith Diſtaffes.
ref: c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 277, column 2:
glosses: To drive or force (someone or something) by, or as if by, beating or hitting; to knock.
examples: text: [W]hen hee comes to deſcribe the office of his imaginarie doctor [he] thvvacks fourteene Scriptures into the margent, vvhereof not any one hath any iuſt colour of inference to his purpoſe: […]
ref: 1610, Jos[eph] Hall, “Section V. The Antiquity and Examples of Separation.”, in A Common Apologie of the Church of England: Against the Uniust Challenges of the Ouer-iust Sect, Commonly Called Brownists. […], London: […] [William Stansby] for Samuel Macham, […], →OCLC, page 14:
text: [W]ho vvould have thought a man could have thvvackt together ſo many incongruous ſimilitudes, had it not been to defend the motley i[n]coherence of a patch'd Miſſall?
ref: 1641, [John Milton], Animadversions upon the Remonstrants Defence against Smectymnuus, London: […] [Richard Oulton and Gregory Dexter] for Thomas Vnderhill, […], →OCLC, page 24:
glosses: To pack (people or things) closely together; to cram.
examples: text: 3 [Servingman] VVhy here's he that vvas vvont to thvvacke our Generall, Caius Martius. / 1 VVhy do you ſay, thvvacke our Generall? / 3 I do not ſay thvvacke our Generall, but he vvas alvvayes good enough for him.
ref: c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], page 23, column 1:
text: [W]hat adventurous knight ever thought of the lady's terror, when he went to thwack giant, dragon, or magician, in her presence, and for her deliverance?
ref: 1821 January 8, [Walter Scott], chapter II, in Kenilworth; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne, […]; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 40:
text: If we count three before the come of thee, thwacked thou art, and must go to the women.
ref: 1869, R[ichard] D[oddridge] Blackmore, chapter II, in Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor. […], volume I, London: Sampson Low, Son, & Marston, […], →OCLC, page 18:
glosses: To decisively defeat (someone) in a contest; to beat, to thrash.
examples: text: And my lad Aſcanius with a Troian mantel adorning, / Weau'd woorks thwackt with honor, to her gifts this parlye ſhe lincketh.
ref: 1582, Virgil, “The Third Booke of Virgil His Aeneis”, in Richard Stanyhurst, transl., The First Foure Bookes of Virgils Æneis, […], London: […] Henrie Bynneman […], published 1583, →OCLC; republished as The First Four Books of the Æneid of Virgil, […], Edinburgh: [Edinburgh Printing Company], 1836, →OCLC, page 80:
glosses: To crowd or pack (a place or thing) with people, objects, etc.
examples: text: And see, that urchin, ho-ieroe! / His truant legs they sink from under, / And to the quaking sheet below [i.e., ice on which he has been skating], / Down thwacks he, with a thud like thunder!
ref: 1831 February, “Delta” [pseudonym; David Macbeth Moir], “The Winter Wild”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume XXIX, number CLXXVII, part II, Edinburgh: William Blackwood; London: T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, stanza VII, page 328:
glosses: To fall down hard with a thump.
examples: text: [A]ll that vvere vvithin the audience of theſe vvords and dovvn the Church, vvhich vvas as full as it could thvvack in thick multitudes, gave a loud general applauſe.
ref: 1650, Alexander Giraffi [i.e., Alessandro Giraffi], “Saturday the 13. of Iuly, 1647. The Seventh Day.”, in James Howell, transl., An Exact Historie of the Late Revolutions in Naples; […], London: […] R. A. for R[ichard] Lowndes, →OCLC, pages 157–158:
glosses: To be crammed or filled full.
examples: text: All the vviſe vvenches i'the Tovvn vvill thvvack to ſuch Sanctuaries, vvhen the times are troubleſome, and Troopers trace the ſtreets in terror.
ref: c. 1629–1632 (date written), Richard Brome, “The City Wit, or, The Woman Wears the Breeches. A Comedy.”, in A[lexander] Brome, editor, Five New Playes, […], London: […] Humphrey Moseley, Richard Marriot, and Thomas Dring, […], published 1653, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, signature [B8], verso:
glosses: Of people: to crowd or pack a place.
Derived terms: word: bethwack
word: thwacked
word: thwackee
word: thwacker
word: thwacking
word: thwackingly
Related terms: thock
thwock