Dictionary

thumper en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /ˈθʌmpə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈθʌmpɚ/ (General-American)

Etymology

Etymology tree English thump Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English thumper From thump + -er.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) One who thumps.
2. (countable, slang, uncountable) A single-cylinder engine, especially four-stroke engines or those with large engine displacements.
3. (uncountable) A drinking game wherein players must remember personal hand signs while being distracted by others banging on a table.
4. (countable, slang, uncountable) Something big, such as a lie; a whopper.
5. (UK, countable, slang, uncountable) A kind of slam-door train introduced in the late 1950s.
6. (US, countable, slang, uncountable) The Vietnam-era M79 grenade launcher (due to its distinctive report).
7. (countable, qualifier:Antarctica, uncountable) A short rope for beating disobedient sled dogs.
   • This [argument] was about the use of the thumper to control dog teams, and perhaps the unique living conditions of a polar base caused both sides to shift from an initial disagreement to positions more extreme than the ones they would have reached in the wider world outside. 2024, Lewis Juckes, Antarctic Basalt, page 414:
8. (countable, informal, uncountable) A strong adherent to a religion or ideology.
   • Putin’s closest electoral competitor is the Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov – a serial election loser. This would be his fourth defeat. Two other candidates, right-wing table thumper Vladimir Zhirinovsky and left-leaning Sergey Mironov have also run and lost spectacularly in the past. 2012 February 29, Phil Black, “Putin vies for leadership of a changed Russia”, in CNN:
   • These testosterone thumpers have repackaged and exaggerated the study, with a credulity born of zealotry, into articles with shitposty titles like “Trust The Science: Study Links Left-Wing Politics to Lower Testosterone,” casting it as hard proof of their hormonal theories of healthy politics. 2023 April 5, Mark Hay, “Does Testosterone Affect Your Politics?”, in VICE:
   • But in spite of the antics of its Bible thumpers and its boobocracy, my father was unable to stay mad at the United States for long. 1984, Anthony West, H.G. Wells: Aspects of a Life, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, →OL, page 126:
9. (countable, informal, uncountable) A track with a thumping beat.
   • This late-1979 disco thumper is set to a driving beat with a memorable refrain that proved so enduring that American icon Madonna sampled it for her 2005 hit 'Hung Up', from her album Confessions on a Dance Floor. 2020, Ian Cole, ABBA: Song by Song:

Forms

Deriveds

crawthumper · Koran thumper · ivory-thumper · tubthumper · Bible thumper · mutton-thumper

Synonyms

stomper