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kerplunk

noun
/kəˈplʌŋk/UK/kə(ɹ)ˈplʌŋk/US

Etymology

From ker- (prefix forming onomatopoeias imitating the effect or sound of a heavy object falling) + plunk (“dull thud of something landing on a surface”).

  1. derived from plenken — “(archaic) to wander around; (Limburg, archaic) to play truant”
  2. prefixed as kerplunk — “ker + plunk”

Definitions

  1. A sound of someone or something falling and landing heavily.

    • If my life were a Saturday-morning cartoon, you would have heard a loud kerplunk as my stomach dropped. My poor starving stomach. It was under such stress already, and now this.

  2. A disappointment which comes as a surprise.

  3. Used to indicate a thudding sound.

    • We flipped to see who'd go first and I won, which meant Claudia had to dial. I called the number out loud for her, and inside me my heart was suddenly going "kerplunk, kerplunk, kerplunk," heavy as an elephant's feet.
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. To make the sound of falling and landing heavily

      To make the sound of falling and landing heavily; to thud.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for kerplunk. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA