thack

The sound of a thack.

Interjection

  1. The sound of a thack.
    • 1860, Albany Fonblanque, Jun., Hector Mainwaring; or, A lease for lives, Ward and Lock, page 205, Thack ! thack ! thack ! the heavy hunting whip came down upon the head and shoulders of Charles Dudley.
    • Whishhh—THACK! The strap is a blur as it comes to meet my outstretched hand. - 2012, Campbell Bolwell, From the Mountaintop, Xlibris, page 33:

Origin

From Middle English thacce, from thakken (“to stroke”): see etymology 1.

Noun Entry 2

  1. A stroke; a thwack.

Forms

thacks

Noun Entry 3

  1. The weatherproof outer layer of a roof, often specifically thatch.
    • This outer layer was generically known as 'thack', but, owing to the fact that the vast majority of buildings in early times were covered with a thacking of straw or some similar material, 'thatch' gradually acquired...

Origin

From Middle English thak, thakk, thakke, from Old English þæc, from Proto-West Germanic *þak, from Proto-Germanic *þaką, from Proto-Indo-European *teg-. Cognate with Dutch dak, Low German Dack, Danish tag (“roof”), German Dach (“roof”), Old Norse þak (“thatch, roof”). Akin to Latin toga (“garment”) and Ancient Greek στέγος (stégos, “roof”). See also thatch and deck.

Forms

thacks

Derived

thackless

Verb dialectal, transitive

  1. To strike or thump (someone or something); to thwack.

Origin

From Middle English thakken (“to stroke”), from Old English þaccian (“to touch gently, stroke, tap”), from Proto-West Germanic *þakwōn, from Proto-Germanic *þakwōną (“to touch lightly”), from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to touch”). Cognate with Old Dutch þakolōn (“to stroke”), Old Norse þykkr (“a thwack, thump, blow”), Icelandic þjökka, þjaka (“to thwack, thump, beat”), Norwegian tjåka (“to strike, beat”), Latin tangō (“touch”). More at thwack, tangent.

Forms

thacks thacking thacked

Verb Entry 5

  1. To cover a roof with thack.
    • The said day, it was represented that the thacking and covering of Houses houses in the towne with straw and hedder wes very dangerous, and rendered them obnoxious to fyre, and to the endangering of the saids houses and...

Forms

thacks thacking thacked

Derived

thacked thacker