▪ I. pummel, n.
a parallel form of pommel n.
▪ II. pummel, v.
(ˈpʌm(ə)l)
Also 6 pumble, poumle, poumile.
[An alteration of pommel v., in accordance with pronunciation now more usual.]
a. trans. To beat or strike repeatedly, esp. with the fist; to pound, thump. Also transf. and fig. b. intr.
| 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke iii. 44 Thei turne him cleane out of his owne doores, and pumble hym about the pate. Ibid. xii. 118 Poumleyng and beating theym. c 1563 Jack Jugler in Four Old Plays (1848) 34 You would poumile him ioylile a-bout the pate. 1608 Beaum. & Fl. Four Plays in One, Tri. Death v, Your pate I would pummel. 1791 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ode to Ass Wks. 1792 II. 401 Dragg'd, kick'd, and pummell'd, by a beggar's brat. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xlv, A desire to pummel and wring the nose of the aforesaid Stiggins. 1878 E. C. G. Murray Russians of To-day 49 Mujicks continue to pummel one another, and to be pummelled by their superiors. 1927 New Republic 12 Oct. 208/2 Once the greater part of the population is pummeled night and morning in underground cattle-cars,..I shall be surprised if there is any energy left. 1972 Newsweek 10 Jan. 1/1 For five days U.S. Phantom jets and mammoth B-52 bombers pummeled North Vietnam in the heaviest raids since the 1968 bombing halt. 1977 Chicago Tribune 2 Oct. iii. 16/6 The Carthage Redmen..went on to pummel the North Park Vikings 34–8. 1979 Arizona Daily Star 19 Apr. 1/1 Typhoon Cecil headed today for Japan after pummeling the Philippines. |
| b. 1833 Marryat P. Simple vi, ‘You villain!’..cried he, pummelling at him as well as he could. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy iii, With Dick fastened on him, pummelling away most unmercifully. |
Hence
ˈpummelled ppl. a.,
ˈpummelling vbl. n.| 1755 Smollett Quix. (1803) I. 146 Our lot hath been nothing but cudgelling upon cudgelling, pummelling upon pummelling. 1887 Trollope What I remember I. viii. 170, I..gave him as good a pummelling as my heart desired. 1902 Daily Chron. 6 May 7/2 The pampered and pummelled English boys who buy food and fury so dear. |