or thumping, etc., subs. (common).—1. Anything impressive: cf. WHOPPER; THUMPING = unusually large, heavy, etc. (GROSE).
c. 1709. WARD, Terræ Filius, ii. 5. Here comes a THUMPING Brother of … the Law.
1710–13. SWIFT, The Journal to Stella [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, ii. 150. The word THUMPER stands for mendacium].
d. 1763. BYROM, Critical Remarks on Horace [CHALMERS, English Poets, xv. 236. 1].
| Small as you will, if ’twas a bumper, | |
| Centum for one would be a THUMPER. |
1774. GOLDSMITH, Retaliation [CHALMERS, English Poets, xvi. 499. 2]. Yet one fault he had, and that one was a THUMPER.
1798. O’KEEFE, Fontainebleau, iii. 1. You’ve run up a THUMPING bill.
1809. MALKIN, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 358. Antonia has not a THUMPING fortune to bring with her.
1902. Pall Mall Gazette, 24 Jan., i. 3. A THUMPING majority.
2. (showmen’s).—In pl. = dominoes.
