wallop

What it means

1. countableuncountableA heavy blow, a punch.

   he gave him a mighty wallop

   1 more example

   An' in the twentieth we stood in the middle of the ring an' exchanged wallops even.

   1913 October, Jack London, The Valley of the Moon, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC

2. countableuncountableA person's ability to throw such punches.

   this guy's got some wallop

3. countableuncountableAn emotional impact, a psychological force.

   that film has some serious wallop

In a sentence

he gave him a mighty wallop

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*wel-“death in battle, killed in battle”
2. Proto-Germanic[Term?]“dead, victim, slain”
3. Frankish*walhlaup“battle run”
4. Proto-Indo-European*klaub-“to spring, stumble”
5. Proto-Germanic*hlaupaną“to run, leap, spring”
6. Frankish*wala hlaupan“to run well”
7. Old Northern Frenchwalop“gallop”
8. Anglo-Norman[Term?]
9. Middle Englishwallopen“gallop”
10. Englishwallop

From Middle English wallopen (“gallop”), from Anglo-Norman [Term?], from Old Northern French walop (“gallop”, noun) and waloper (“to gallop”, verb) (compare Old French galoper, whence modern French galoper), from Frankish *wala hlaupan (“to run well”) from *wala (“well”) + *hlaupan (“to run”), from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną (“to run, leap, spring”), from Proto-Indo-European *klaub- (“to spring, stumble”). Possibly also derived from a deverbal of Frankish *walhlaup (“battle run”) from *wal (“battlefield”) from Proto-Germanic [Term?] (“dead, victim, slain”) from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“death in battle, killed in battle”) + *hlaup (“course, track”) from *hlaupan (“to run”). Compare the doublet gallop.