Meanings
plural callithumps
- UScolloquialdatedA somewhat riotous parade, accompanied with the blowing of tin horns and other discordant noises.
You probably don't know what callithump is, but you will find out if you undertake to hoe sod-ground potatoes in July. It has something to do with brazen trumpets and violence. I became acquainted with callithump when I straightened out the asparagus-bed.
1919, Albert Bigelow Paine, Dwellers in Arcady: The Story of an Abandoned Farm
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna noisy mock serenade (made by banging pans and kettles) to a newly married couple
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Uncertain. Perhaps from calli- + thump, or an alteration and backformation from "Gallithumpian", a Dorset and Devon word from 1790s for a society of radical social reformers, in reference to "noisy disturbers of elections and meetings"
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
callithump. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/callithump
“callithump.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/callithump. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “callithump,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/callithump.
Source: callithump on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.