thwack
Meaning
-
- To hit (someone or something) hard, especially with a flat implement or a stick; to thrash, to whack.
- To drive or force (someone or something) by, or as if by, beating or hitting; to knock.
- To pack (people or things) closely together; to cram.
- To decisively defeat (someone) in a contest; to beat, to thrash.
- (obsolete) To crowd or pack (a place or thing) with people, objects, etc.
- To fall down hard with a thump.
- (obsolete) To be crammed or filled full.
- (obsolete) Of people: to crowd or pack a place.
Synonyms
Frequency
Pronounced as (IPA)
/θwæk/
Etymology
In summary
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”))
Bookmark this
Improve your pronunciation
Start learning English with learnfeliz.
Practice speaking and memorizing "thwack" and many other words and sentences in English.
Go to our English course page
Notes