那個聲音本身
這一組就是核心：把那一聲低沉的悶響直接當成一個名詞來用。
noun · B2
The low, dull sound something makes when it hits a surface — heavy and closed, not sharp or ringing.
悶重的一聲
核心畫面
It helps to start with the sound rather than the action, because this word may simply be that sound written down. A thump is low, heavy and closed: the noise a full box makes as it lands on a floor. It is not sharp like a click and not bright like a bang, and you usually feel a little of it through the floor as well as hearing it. Everything the word does grows out of that one noise. There is the hit that makes it, whether a fist on a table or rain on a window. There are feet that make it, so you hear someone coming before you see them. There is the same beat inside your chest when you are or . And there is the beat that reaches you through a wall when only the bass of a song gets through.
這個字可以先從聲音開始想，因為它很可能就是那個聲音被寫下來的樣子。thump 是低沉、沉重、悶悶的一聲：裝滿的箱子落…更多收起
這個字可以先從聲音開始想，因為它很可能就是那個聲音被寫下來的樣子。thump 是低沉、沉重、悶悶的一聲：裝滿的箱子落在地板上的那種聲音。它不像 click 那麼尖，也不像 bang 那麼響亮，而且除了聽見，腳下通常還會微微感覺到。這個字所有的用法，都是從這一聲長出來的。有製造這一聲的撞擊——拳頭敲桌子，或雨打在窗上。有製造這一聲的腳步，所以你先聽到人，才看到人。有害怕或興奮時，胸腔裡同樣的那一下。也有隔著牆傳過來、只剩低音的節拍。From the word’s history
The source dates the word to the mid sixteenth century and says it is probably imitative — that is, the word was made to sound like the noise. That fits the core: say it aloud and the closed mp at the end lands the way a heavy object lands.
來源說這個字大約出現在十六世紀中期，而且多半被認為是擬聲的——也就是這個字本來就是照著那個聲音造的。這跟核心畫面正好對得上：把 /θʌmp/ 念出聲，最後的 mp 收得又悶又重，就像重物落地的那一下。
Wiktionary entry for thump, supplied in this packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1067778546): 'Mid 16th century, probably imitative.'
Five branches
弄出那個聲音的動作
同一聲音，這次寫的是製造它的動作。誰或什麼在撞、在踩、在響，決定了是哪一個用法，但聲音都是同一個。
verb · B2
To hit against something and make a heavy, dull, loud sound, or to put something down hard so that it makes that sound.
砰地撞擊、重放
用拳頭打的那一下
手握起來、打下去很重，發出的正是那一聲悶響，所以動作也用同一個字。來源標成口語，另一個來源說主要在英式英文裡用。
verb · B2
To hit a person or a thing hard with your closed hand.
用拳頭重擊
胸腔裡的那一下
同樣的沉重一聲，位置換到身體裡面：心臟跳得重到自己感覺得到，甚至聽得見。
verb · B2
If your heart thumps, it beats hard and fast inside your chest, usually because you are frightened, nervous or excited.
（心臟）怦怦跳
代替粗話的位置
這一支跟聲音的關係比較遠：它借的是這個字本身無傷大雅的身分，被塞進句子裡本來要放重話的位置。
noun · C1
In what the thump, where the thump, who the thump and so on, thump stands in for a stronger word that the speaker does not want to say. The source marks this use dated.
（委婉）到底、究竟
原始詞典資料9 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
thumpnoun/θʌmp/
- 1
A blow that produces a muffled sound.
- ... and so the universal thump is passed round, and all hands should rub each other’s shoulder-blades, and be content.
- 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.
- An interesting feature of the church is the invisible clock, which you can hear thumping away as you enter. Constructed in 1525, it is one of the oldest timepieces in England. It chimes the hours and the quarters, and every three hours it plays a hymn. But it has no faces.
- 3
datedUsed to replace the vulgar or blasphemous element in "what the hell" and similar phrases.
- Where the thump have you been?!
- 4
businessminingSynonym of bump (“sudden movement of underground strata”).
thumpverb/θʌmp/
- 1
To hit (someone or something) as if to make a thump.
- These bastard Bretons, whom our fathers / Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and thump'd.
- Kasper Schmeichel brilliantly denied Marouane Chamakh before Bacary Sagna thumped home a second, though Bradley Johnson's screamer halved the deficit.
- 2
To cause to make a thumping sound.
- The cat thumped its tail in irritation.
- 3
To thud or pound.
- 4
To throb with a muffled rhythmic sound.
- Dance music thumped from the nightclub entrance.
- Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.
- 5
(of a rabbit) to hit the ground with the back legs to signal agitation.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。