thrump

plural thrumps

1. The sound or vibration from a dull, heavy, pounding blow or pulsation.

   Feel the thrump thrump thrump of the wheels beneath me.

   2001, Mary Pershall, Asking for Trouble, page 252

   4 more examples

   There it was, the familiar sound thrump, thrump, thrump, as the honor guards took turns in casting shovelfuls of earth on the coffin, a sound Peter had grown to dread.

   2006, Charles Casimer Krawczyk, Remembrance: As Long As We Live, page 238

   The thrump, thrump, thrump of the drums helped troops locate their units amid the noise and smoke surrounding them, and told soldiers how to position themselves.

   2007, Walter A. Hazen, Everyday Life the Civil War

   Alex Martin watched the helicopter until it was no longer even a tiny speck in the early morning sky, until the pulsating thrump, thrump, thrump of its blades faded into the natural rhythms of the forest.

   2013, Kate Douglas, Carved in Stone

   A car door closed, but it didn't have the loud squeaky thunk of a taxi door. It was a soft thrump, like a valve closing on a vacuum.

   2014, Mary Kay McComas, Kiss Me, Kelly

present singular third person thrumps · participle present thrumping · participle past thrumped · past thrumped

1. To cause a thrump.

   As Clay thrumps back and forth behind the bar, Duncan changes his mind repeatedly, and if he pauses in deliberation when Clay returns, Clay does not wait but continues on behind the bar.

   2013, Thomas O'Malley, This Magnificent Desolation, page 297

   2 more examples

   Our dandy, as we are informed, is also a great favourite among the ladies — goes to parties, balls, and concerts — knows semibreve from a demisemiquaver, and can thrump a piano considerably.

   1830, John B. Skillman, Skillman's New-York Police Reports, page 121

   She heads out the back of the hospital barracks, and there, under the new sprinkle of snow, the cold soaking through her gumboots, Esme splits the wood with an axe. Thrumps it open at the heart.

   2007, Emily Ballou, Aphelion, page 238