1. The sound made by the sudden fall or blow of a heavy body, as of a hammer, or the like.
The distant forge's swinging thump profound.
Wordsworth.
With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
They dropped down, one by one.
Coleridge. 2. A blow or knock, as with something blunt or heavy; a heavy fall.
The watchman gave so great a thump at my door, that I awaked at the knock.
Tatler. Thump
(Thump), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Thumped ; p. pr. & vb. n. Thumping.] To strike or beat with
something thick or heavy, or so as to cause a dull sound.
These bastard Bretons; whom our hathers
Have in their own land beaten, bobbed, and thumped.
Shak. Thump
(Thump), v. i. To give a thump or thumps; to strike or fall with a heavy blow; to pound.
A watchman at midnight thumps with his pole.
Swift. Thumper
(Thump"er) n. One who, or that which, thumps.
Thumping
(Thump"ing), a. Heavy; large. [Colloq.]
Thunder
(Thun"der) n. [OE. þunder, þonder, þoner, AS. þunor; akin to þunian to stretch, to thunder, D.
donder thunder, G. donner, OHG. donar, Icel. þorr Thor, L. tonare to thunder, tonitrus thunder, Gr.
to`nos a stretching, straining, Skr. tan to stretch. &radic52. See Thin, and cf. Astonish, Detonate,
Intone, Thursday, Tone.]
1. The sound which follows a flash of lightning; the report of a discharge of atmospheric electricity.
2. The discharge of electricity; a thunderbolt. [Obs.]
The revenging gods
'Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend.
Shak. 3. Any loud noise; as, the thunder of cannon.
4. An alarming or statrling threat or denunciation.
The thunders of the Vatican could no longer strike into the heart of princes.
Prescott. Thunder pumper. (Zoöl.) (a) The croaker (b) The American bittern or stake-driver. — Thunder rod,
a lightning rod. [R.] — Thunder snake. (Zoöl.) (a) The chicken, or milk, snake. (b) A small reddish
ground snake (Carphophis, or Celuta, amœna) native to the Eastern United States; — called also worm
snake. — Thunder tube, a fulgurite. See Fulgurite.
Thunder
(Thun"der) v. i. [imp. & p. p. Thundered ; p. pr. & vb. n. Thundering.] [AS. þunrian. See
Thunder, n.]
1. To produce thunder; to sound, rattle, or roar, as a discharge of atmospheric electricity; — often used
impersonally; as, it thundered continuously.
Canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
Job xl. 9. 2. Fig.: To make a loud noise; esp. a heavy sound, of some continuance.
His dreadful voice no more
Would thunder in my ears.
Milton.
