wallop

See also: Wallop

English

Alternative forms

wollop (archaic)

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɒl.əp/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈwɑ.ləp/
Audio (Australian): (file)
Rhymes: -ɒləp
Hyphenation: wal‧lop

Etymology 1

From Middle English wallopen (“gallop”), from Anglo-Norman [Term?], from Old Northern French walop (“gallop”, noun) and waloper (“to gallop”, verb) (compare Old French galoper, whence modern French galoper), from Frankish *wala hlaupan (“to run well”) from *wala (“well”) + *hlaupan (“to run”), from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną (“to run, leap, spring”), from Proto-Indo-European *klaub- (“to spring, stumble”). Possibly also derived from a deverbal of Frankish *walhlaup (“battle run”) from *wal (“battlefield”) from Proto-Germanic [Term?] (“dead, victim, slain”) from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“death in battle, killed in battle”) + *hlaup (“course, track”) from *hlaupan (“to run”). Compare the doublet gallop.

Noun

wallop (countable and uncountable, plural wallops)

A heavy blow, a punch.
he gave him a mighty wallop
- 1913 October, Jack London, The Valley of the Moon, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC:
  An' in the twentieth we stood in the middle of the ring an' exchanged wallops even.
A person's ability to throw such punches.
this guy's got some wallop
An emotional impact, a psychological force.
that film has some serious wallop
A thrill, an emotionally excited reaction.
(slang, uncountable) Anything produced by a process that involves boiling; beer, tea, or whitewash.
- 1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four:
  "You're a gent," said the other, straightening his shoulders again. He appeared not to have noticed Winston's blue overalls. "Pint!" he added aggressively to the barman. "Pint of wallop."
(archaic) A thick piece of fat.
(UK, Scotland, dialect) A quick rolling movement; a gallop.

Derived terms

(beer): codswallop
pack a wallop

Translations

a heavy blow, punch

Bulgarian: си́лен у́дар m (sílen údar)
Czech: úder (cs) m, rána (cs) f, pecka (cs) f
Dutch: knal (nl) m
French: un grand coup m, (colloquial) un gnon m
Galician: zoupada f
German: harter Schlag m
Hungarian: nyakleves (hu)
Japanese: パンチ (ja) (panchi)
Norman: tourné-oualipe f, oualipe f
Russian: си́льный уда́р m (sílʹnyj udár)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: у̀дарац m

Latin: ùdarac (sh) m
Spanish: zurra (es) f, galletazo m

Verb

wallop (third-person singular simple present wallops, present participle walloping, simple past and past participle walloped)

(intransitive) To rush hastily.
(intransitive) To flounder, wallow.
To boil with a continued bubbling or heaving and rolling, with noise.
- 1579, Laurence Thomson, A wee note on Calvin's (wordy) sermons:
  Oure affections boyle within vs, & wallop, frothing as a seething potte.
(transitive) To strike heavily, thrash soundly.
Tony got walloped round the face by Mike.
- 1902, Joseph Conrad, To-morrow‎^[1]:
  “It’s just like old times. Nearly walloped the life out of me to stop me going away, and now I come back he throws a confounded shovel at my head to keep me out. It grazed my shoulder.”
- 1913 October, Jack London, The Valley of the Moon, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC:
  I've been timin' his rushes an' straight-leftin' him, an' meetin' his duck with a wicked little right upper-cut, an' he's shaken me on the jaw an' walloped my ears till my head's all singin' an' buzzin'.
- 2026 February 24, Christina Morales, Jenna Russell, “Snowstorm Is ‘as Bad as I’ve Seen It,’ Massachusetts Governor Says”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:
  The blizzard walloping the Northeast knocked down power lines and made roads impassable across Massachusetts on Monday, leaving hundreds of thousands without power and stranding vehicles across the state
- 2026 March 12, Patricia Cohen, “Fallout From Iran War and Oil Shock Deliver Another Blow to World Economy”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:
  Countries already walloped by a breakdown of the international trading order, war in Ukraine and chaotic U.S. policymaking are facing potentially lasting economic damage.
(transitive) To trounce, beat by a wide margin.
The other side are bringing out their B-team, so we have to aim to completely wallop them.
(transitive) To wrap up temporarily.
To move in a rolling, cumbersome manner; to waddle.
- 1822, James Hogg, Siege of Roxburgh:
  Saluting the far loin of his mare […] with an energy that made all his accoutrements wallop.
- 1872, Joseph C. Hart, Miriam Coffin: Or, The Whale-fisherman, page 208:
  The second act commenced, and the old-fashioned sixpenny waves of Drury did their best, and wallopped about, under a canvas blanket representing the sea, and dashed against the rocks and tall cliffs of the scene to admiration.
- 1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 58:
  It gave him such a shock, he snorted and bolted off down the street at a clackety clumping gallop, with Miss Swozzlepot squalling and bumping up and down and the knight walloping all over the saddle[.]
To eat or drink with gusto.
- 1910, Hilaire Belloc, On Something - Volume 10, page 69:
  St. Peter will befriend me then, Because my name is Peter too; I know him for the best of men That ever wallopped barley brew.
- 2010, William Routledge, Oh Yes, Oh Yes, We are the PPS:
  A greasy spoon café was found, big brekkies ordered and soon walloped down.
- 2019, Mary S. Watts, The Tenants: An Episode of the '80s:
  "Huh! Touch o' green was a fig-leaf, I s'pose—hope so, anyhow!" said Mrs. Botlisch, and "wallopped" down another oyster.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Clipping of write to all operators.

Verb

wallop (third-person singular simple present wallops, present participle walloping, simple past and past participle walloped)

(Internet) To send a message to all operators on an Internet Relay Chat server.

References

“wallop” in Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary: Based on Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 7th edition, Springfield, Mass.: G[eorge] & C[harles] Merriam, 1963 (1967 printing), →OCLC.