"thumping" definition, meaning, and origin

Adjective

A dull, heavy sound.
- They were a regular series of thumpings from the interior of the house, occasioned by the violent rocking of a cradle upon a stone floor, to which movement a feminine voice kept time by singing, in a vigorous...
- There was nothing to be seen, but he could hear loud thumpings and bumpings which seemed to come from the back of the house. - 1941, Gladys Mitchell, When Last I Died:
A beating.
- He received a thumping from the school bully.
- And in our times, in Philadelphia, there have been specimens of violent shruggings of the shoulders, and brachial twitches, and prodigious wry faces, and thumpings on the pews. - 1824, William Craig Brownlee, A careful...
A heavy defeat.
- Grant's future has been the subject of rumour after rumour for much of the season and last week's horrific 5-0 thumping at Newcastle was the catalyst for another round of fevered speculation. - 2011 January 11, Jonathan...