From Middle English whappen, a variant of wappen (“to strike; fling; shoot; stun”), probably of imitative origin. Compare Old Norse vappa (“to waddle”).
From Middle English whappen, a variant of wappen (“to strike; fling; shoot; stun”), probably of imitative origin. Compare Old Norse vappa (“to waddle”).
Meanings
(informal, transitive) To throw or move (something) quickly, usually with an impact.
He angrily whopped the book onto the table.
Then I'd wake up an' screech and roar—then off to sleep again—to dream that Spanker had run away with me, or that father was whopping me, or some other plaguey thing, till mornin'. 1848 October 28, “Collectanea. The First Ice Cream.”, in The Daguerreotype: A Magazine of Foreign Literature and Science; Compiled Chiefly from the Periodical Publications of England, France, and Germany, volume III, number 1, Boston, Mass.: Published by Crosby & Nichols, No. 111 Washington Street, →OCLC, page 43, column 2:
A man & a younge maid that loued a long time / were tane in a frenzye ithe Midsommer prime; / the maid shee lay drooping, hye; / the man he lay whopping, hey, the man he lay whopping hoe. 1867, “A Maid & a Younge Man. [Page 197 of MS.]”, in John W[esley] Hales, Frederick J[ames] Furnivall, editors, Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript. Loose and Humorous Songs, part I, London: N[icholas] Trübner & Co., 60 Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 51, lines 1–4:
(slang, transitive) To administer corporal punishment to.