different between percussion vs percuss

English

Etymology

From Middle French, Old French percussion, from Latin percussi? (“striking”), from percuti? (“I strike”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /p??k???n/
• Rhymes: -???n

Noun

percussion (countable and uncountable, plural percussions)

1. (countable) The collision of two bodies in order to produce a sound.
2. (countable) The sound so produced.
3. (countable) The detonation of a percussion cap in a firearm.
4. (medicine) The tapping of the body as an aid to medical diagnosis.
5. (music) The section of an orchestra or band containing percussion instruments; such instruments considered as a group; in bands, may be separate from drum kits.
6. (engineering) The repeated striking of an object to break or shape it, as in percussion drilling.
7. (palmistry) The outer side of the hand.

Derived terms

Related terms

• quash

Translations

Anagrams

• coin purses, croupiness, supersonic

French

Etymology

From Latin percussi?.

Noun

percussion f (plural percussions)

1. percussion (tapping of the body)
2. (music) percussion

Further reading

• “percussion” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

From Old French percussir, from Latin percussus, past participle of percuti? (“strike, beat”), from per (“through”) + quati? (“shake, strike”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p??k?s/, [p??k??s]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /p??k?s/, [p??k??s]
• Rhymes: -?s
• Hyphenation: per?cuss

Verb

percuss (third-person singular simple present percusses, present participle percussing, simple past and past participle percussed)

1. (transitive) to strike; to hit; to knock; to give a blow to
   • c. 1619, John Ford (formerly attributed to Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher), The Laws of Candy, [Act II, Scene i], page 304:

     Give me thy hand Gonzalo, thou art in our favour, / For we do love to cheri?h lofty ?pirits, / Such as percu??e the Earth, and bound / With an erected countenance to the clouds.

2. (intransitive) to impact

3. (transitive, chiefly medicine) to attempt to divine the location or other quality of something by tapping on (an overlying surface)
   • 2016, Susan F. Wilson, Jean Foret Giddens, Health Assessment for Nursing Practice, Elsevier Health Sciences (?ISBN), page 259

     PERCUSS the abdomen for tones. Percuss the abdomen when you suspect distention, fluid, or solid masses. Procedure: See Chapter 3 for the procedures for percussion. Percuss all quadrants for tones, using indirect percussion to assess density of abdominal contents (Fig. 13-11). Percuss in each quadrant for tympany and dullness. FIG. 13-11 Systematic Route for Abdominal Percussion.

4. (transitive, chiefly medicine) to attempt to divine the location or other quality of (something) by tapping on an overlying surface
   • 2007, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Emergency Nursing Made Incredibly Easy!, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (?ISBN)

     As you percuss the kidneys, check for pain or tenderness, behind other organs which suggests a kidney infection. Remember to percuss both sides of the body to assess both kidneys.

Related terms

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “percuss”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN

Further reading

• percuss in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• percuss in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• percuss at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• cuspers, spruces