different between thump vs smite

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

English

Alternative forms

• smight (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English smiten, from Old English sm?tan (“to daub, smear, smudge; soil, defile, pollute”), from Proto-Germanic *sm?tan? (“to sling; throw; smear”), from Proto-Indo-European *smeyd- (“to smear, whisk, strike, rub”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian smiete (“to throw, toss”), West Frisian smite (“to throw”), Low German smieten (“to throw, chuck, toss”), Dutch smijten (“to fling, hurl, throw”), Middle Low German besmitten (“to soil, sully”), German schmeißen (“to fling, throw”), Danish smide (“to throw”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????????? (bismeitan, “to besmear, anoint”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: sm?t, IPA^(key): /sma?t/
• Rhymes: -a?t

Verb

smite (third-person singular simple present smites, present participle smiting, simple past smote or smited or (obsolete) smit, past participle smitten or smote or smited or (obsolete) smit)

1. (archaic) To hit, to strike.
   • It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. […]. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.
2. To strike down or kill with godly force.
   • 1611, King James Version, Exodus 3:19–20:

     And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.
3. To injure with divine power.
4. To kill violently; to slay.
5. To put to rout in battle; to overthrow by war.
6. To afflict; to chasten; to punish.
   • 1688, William Wake, Preparation for Death

     Let us not mistake the goodness of God, nor imagine that because he smites us, therefore we are forsaken by him.
7. (figuratively, now only in passive) To strike with love or infatuation.

Noun

smite (plural smites)

1. (archaic, rare) A heavy blow or stroke with a weapon, tool or the hand.

Translations

Anagrams

• METIs, MSTie, Metis, Métis, STEMI, Times, e-stim, emits, i-stem, items, metis, mites, métis, setim, stime, times

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian sm?ta, from Proto-Germanic *sm?tan?, from Proto-Indo-European *smeyd-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?smit?/

Verb

smite

1. to throw
2. to fling

Inflection

Further reading

• “smite (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011