percuss
To strike; to hit; to knock; to give a blow toTo strike; to hit; to knock; to give a blow to.
Meaning
3 senses(transitive)To strike; to hit; to knock; to give a blow to.
Solid bodies, if they be very softly percussed, give no sound.
(intransitive)To impact.
Falling on the roof of the caravan, the hailstones percussed noisily.
(transitive)To attempt to pinpoint the location or other quality of something by tapping on an overlying surface.
The doctor percussed his chest to determine whether he had pneumonia.
Percussing a patient's spleen is best done while he is on his back.
- strike or tap firmly
Origin
From Latin percussus, past participle of percutiō (“to strike, to beat”), from per (“throuFrom Latin percussus, past participle of percutiō (“to strike, to beat”), from per (“through”) + quatiō (“to shake, to strike”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
percusses, percussing, percussed, percussedWord family
4 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.