different between ricochet vs thump

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French ricochet.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???k??e?/, /???k???t/
• Rhymes: -e?
• Hyphenation: ric?o?chet

Noun

ricochet (plural ricochets)

1. (military) A method of firing a projectile so that it skips along a surface.
2. An instance of ricocheting; a glancing rebound.

Translations

Verb

ricochet (third-person singular simple present ricochets, present participle ricocheting or ricochetting, simple past and past participle ricocheted or ricochetted)

1. To rebound off something wildly in a seemingly random direction.
   • 2018 June 24, Sam Wallace, "Harry Kane scores hat-trick as England hit Panama for six to secure World Cup knock-out qualification," Telegraph (UK) (retrieved 24 June 2018):

     Everything that could go right for England did although they never felt lucky and they chuckled at Kane’s third that ricocheted off his heel while he was looking the other way.

2. (military) To operate upon by ricochet firing.

Translations

French

Etymology

Origin uncertain.

• The word first appears in the phrases chanson du/de riochet, fable du ricochet. This is apparently related to other story-titles such as the fable du rouge kokelet; other dialectal terms such as ripoton (“duckling”) and Norman recoquet (“chick”) has led to theories that the word originally indicated a "young cock". The sense-development is unclear.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?i.k?.??/

Noun

ricochet m (plural ricochets)

1. rebound; ricochet.
2. the game of ducks and drakes.

Further reading

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

English

Etymology

Probably imitative.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??mp/
• Rhymes: -?mp

Noun

thump (plural thumps)

1. A blow that produces a muffled sound.
   • December 24, 1709, Isaac Bickerstaff (pseudonym for Richard Steele or (in some later numbers of the journal) Joseph Addison), The Tatler No. 111

     The watchman gave so very great a thump at my door last night, that I awakened at the knock.

2. The sound of such a blow; a thud.
3. (dated, colloquial, euphemistic) Used to replace the vulgar or blasphemous element in "what the hell" and similar phrases.

   Where the thump have you been?!

Translations

Verb

thump (third-person singular simple present thumps, present participle thumping, simple past and past participle thumped)

1. (transitive) To hit (someone or something) as if to make a thump.
2. (transitive) To cause to make a thumping sound.

   The cat thumped its tail in irritation.

3. (intransitive) To thud or pound.
4. (intransitive) To throb with a muffled rhythmic sound.

Translations