▪ I. thud, n. Orig. Sc.
(θʌd)
Also 6 thuid, thude.
[Appears c 1513 along with thud v.2, q.v.]
1. A blast of wind or tempest; a gust; a squall. (In later quots. including the notion of sound.) Sc.
| 1513 Douglas æneis i. i. 80 Aiax breist persit..Scho [Pallas] with a thuid [L. turbine] stikkit on ane scharp roike [= rock]. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) II. 52 Quhen haistilie come sic ane thud of wind, that sail, mast, and taikillis wer blawin in the brim seis. 1606 tr. Rollock's Lect. 1 Thess. 121 (Jam.) All this worlde is full of tentations: the diuell blowes,..raising a storme: it is a stormie world, and all the thuds light on the sillie creature. 1724 Ramsay Vision ii, The air grew ruch with bousteous thuds. 1825 Jamieson s.v., ‘The wind comes in thuds’ when it comes in gusts; and especially when it strikes on any body that conveys the sound, as a door, &c. 1858 M. Porteous Souter Johnny 30 Wud as tempest thud. |
† b. A loud sound, as of a clap of thunder, or the discharge of a cannon. Sc. Obs.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) I. 384 Thair scheildis rave and all thair speiris brak, With sic ane thude evin lyke ane thunder crak. a 1586 in Pinkerton Anc. Scot. Poems (1786) 246 Hir voice sa rank..Most lyik the thundring thuds of canoun din. 1796 Macneill Waes o' War iii. x, Loud the din o' streams fast fa'ing, Strak the ear wi' thundering thud. |
2. A heavy blow; a thump with the fist. Also fig. a severe affliction, a ‘blow’. Sc. and n. dial.
| 1787 W. Taylor Scots Poems 26 (E.D.D.) Wi' an etnach cud Than gae her Daddie sic a thud. 1790 Morison Poems 151 (Jam.) He cocks his hand, and gi's his wife a thud. 1806 J. Cock Simple Strains (1810) 136 (ibid.) Lusty thuds were dealt about. 1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights xix, ‘Noa’, said Joseph, giving a thud with his prop on the floor. 1876 D. Gilmour Paisley Weavers ix. 91 Puir lass, it's a sair thud to thee. |
3. A dull heavy sound without resonance, such as is produced when a heavy stone strikes the ground. (Orig. north. dial.)
| 1825 Brockett N.C. Words, Thud, the noise of a fall, a stroke causing a blunt and hollow sound. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede iv, Lisbeth heard the heavy ‘thud’ of a running foot⁓step on the turf. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. x, The thud thud of the eight-oar. 1878 Besant & Rice Celia's Arb. xi, The heavy thud of the steam-hammer. 1895 C. Holland Jap. Wife (ed. 11) 13 The sound of a mousmé pattering barefoot, her quick, short steps making a gentle thud, thud on the matting. |
b. As interjection or adverb: With a thud.
| 1880 Jefferies Gt. Estate 197 We heard an apple fall..thud on the sward. 1890 L. D'Oyle Notches 71 Bill shot again and the ball went ‘thud!’ into the bear. |
▪ II. † thud, v.1 Obs.
Forms: 1 þyddan, þiddan, 3 þudde (ü), 4 thud. pa. tense 1 þydde, þidde, 3 þudde. pa. pple. 3 iþud.
[OE. þyddan, of uncertain origin. It would normally represent an OTeut. *þudjan, from a stem *þud-.]
1. trans. To strike or thrust with a weapon; to stab. Only in OE.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xl. 294 Ða ðydde [L. percussit] Abner hiene mid hindewearde sceafte on ðæt smælðearme ðæt he wæs dead. Ibid. 296 Ðæt mon mid hindewearde sceafte ðone ðydde [L. ferire est] þe him oferfylᵹe. c 1000 ælfric Judg. iii. 21 Þa abræd Aoth..his swurd..and hine hetelice þidde, swa þæt þa hiltan eodon in to þam innoðe. |
2. To thrust, press, push (a thing to or into a place, etc.). Also fig.
| c 1000 ælfric Num. xxii. 25 Se assa..þidde his hlafordes fot þearle to þam heᵹe. c 1205 Lay. 1898 Geomagog..þudde [c 1275 þraste] Corineum frommard his breoste. Ibid. 9159 Moni hundred þusend þe iþud beoð to hellen. a 1225 St. Marher. 14 Ant þenne þudde ich in ham luueliche þohtes. 1400 in Ancestor July (1904) 19 And anon as i be ded thud me in the erthe. |
3. intr. To press with force.
| a 1225 St. Marher. 12 Þa þudde ha uppon þe þurs feste wið hire fot. |
▪ III. thud, v.2 Orig. Sc.
(θʌd)
[Occurs, with the corresp. n., c 1513. Identity with the earlier thud v.1 is doubtful: formally it is quite possible; but there is a gap both of time and sense between the examples of the two. The present vb. and n. may be purely echoic, imitating the sound which they express or imply; if historically connected with thud v.1, the vb. has changed its meaning under echoic influence, and a n. of corresponding echoic meaning has arisen.]
1. intr. To come with a blast or gust, as the wind; sometimes including the notion of sound. Sc.
| 1513 Douglas æneis xii. vi. 136 As the blastis with thar bustuus sovn..cumis thuddand doun On the deip sey Egean. a 1584 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 237 Throw cluddis so he thuddis so, And flew I wist not quhair. 1721 Ramsay Ode to Ph― vi, Then upo' sight the hailstains thud. 1796 Macneill Waes o' War i. xii, Loud and sair the cauld winds thud. |
b. trans. in causal sense: To drive in blasts. Sc.
| 1728 Ramsay Answer Ep. fr. Mr. Somerville 59 Boreas nae mair thuds Hail, snaw, and sleet, frae blacken'd clouds. |
2. intr. To produce a thud or dull heavy sound, as a falling or moving body by striking against something; to fall or impinge with a thud; also said of the body or surface struck.
| 1796, 1833 [see thudding below]. 1859 L. Oliphant Earl Elgin's Mission to China I. 127 Feeble rockets, barbed as arrows, thudded about and fizzed for a moment in the grass. 1862 Sala Seven Sons III. v. 120 The carriage came thudding by on the soft turf. 1885 Tennyson Balin & Balan 316 He felt the hollow-beaten mosses thud And tremble. 1893 Harper's Mag. Jan. 247/1 They heard his feet thudding upon the stairs. 1908 H. Wales Old Allegiance xvii. 305 A bullet thudded into the wall above me. |
b. trans. To strike (something) so as to produce a thud.
| 1899 J. Lumsden Edin. Poems & Songs 259 Blow all your trumps! thud all your drums! |
Hence ˈthudding vbl. n. and ppl. a. (whence ˈthuddingly adv.; also fig.); all from sense 2.
| 1796 A. Wilson in Poems & Lit. Prose (1876) II. 66 Cease, thou flighterin' thuddin' heart. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle i. (1859) 29 A puff of white smoak, then another,..followed by thudding reports. 1901 Lawson Remin. Dollar Acad. 87 A brilliant peroration accompanied by a thudding on the pulpit. 1904 M. Corelli God's Gd. Man x, The quick gallop of hoofs echoed thuddingly on the velvety turf. 1976 Daily Tel. 16 Dec. 10/5 The man who shot her, incidentally, is called Lord Lichfield—just one of the names dropped thuddingly at every opportunity. 1979 Ibid. 18 July 16/3 ‘Human stories’..even more thuddingly boring than the well-boiled cabbage-slabs of opinion. |