thud
noun
- brief damped noise
verb
- to produce dull heavy sound upon impact
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈθʌd/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English thudden (“to strike with a weapon”), from Old English þyddan (“to strike, press, thrust”), from Proto-Germanic *þuddijaną, *þiudijaną (“to strike, thrust”), from Proto-Germanic *þūhaną, *þeuhaną (“to press”), from Proto-Indo-European *tūk- (“to beat”). Cognate with Old English þoddettan (“to strike, push, batter”), Old English þȳdan (“to strike, stab, thrust, press”), Old English þēowan (“to press”), Albanian thundër (“a hoof, talon, a shaft", figuratively, "oppression, torment”).
- The sound of a dull impact.
“These were but the thoughts of a second, but the voices were nearer, and I heard a dull thud far up the passage, and knew that a man had jumped down from the churchyard into the hole.”
“Ramos had locked Salah’s right arm and turned him, judo-style, as they lost balance going for the same ball. Television replays hardened the suspicion it was a calculated move on Ramos’s part and, when Salah landed with a hell of a thud, the damage was considerable.”
- A hard, dull impact.
“Sinclair told the B.A.R. [Bay Area Reporter] he felt the thud of the pistol on his left cheek about a 100 feet from his car, […]”
- A slower, dull impact with a wide surface area.
“Pillowcase whippings offer the look and feel of a flagellatio scene’s atmosphere, mood, and psychology while involving only very mild amounts of pain. (A pillowcase is almost all “thud” and very little “sting” in the sensations it creates.)”
“It still wasn’t what I’d call painful but as he swung his arm and the strands of the flogger hit me together it felt like a solid thud rather than a number of different tails stinging me.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English thudden (“to strike with a weapon”), from Old English þyddan (“to strike, press, thrust”), from Proto-Germanic *þuddijaną, *þiudijaną (“to strike, thrust”), from Proto-Germanic *þūhaną, *þeuhaną (“to press”), from Proto-Indo-European *tūk- (“to beat”). Cognate with Old English þoddettan (“to strike, push, batter”), Old English þȳdan (“to strike, stab, thrust, press”), Old English þēowan (“to press”), Albanian thundër (“a hoof, talon, a shaft", figuratively, "oppression, torment”).
- To make the sound of a dull impact.
“At the same instant two arrows thudded into the carcass of the deer over which he knelt, passing but a few inches from his head.”
“[…] while the tears streamed from his eyes, and his tail waved and thudded in perfect time on the sanded floor. But for the said thudding of the tail, I would have stopped, fancying the poor animal's nerves had been set on edge.”