the.com/wallop
A hit so hearty it needed its own word, bigger than a punch, smaller than a wrecking ball.
means To strike something with a heavy, resounding blow — or the blow itself, when you need a noun strong enough to carry the thud.
from Traces back to Old North French 'waloper,' meaning to gallop — the same root that gives English 'gallop.' The sense drifted from the pounding rhythm of a horse's hooves to any heavy, thudding impact, and by extension to the booming sound such a hit makes. So every wallop still carries a faint echo of hoofbeats.
- origin
- from old french waloper, to gallop
- usage shift
- once meant to boil violently, bubbling fast
- synonym energy
- stronger than hit, friendlier than smash
- beer slang
- british dialect once used it for weak beer