Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The striking together of two bodies, especially when noise is produced.
  • noun The sound, vibration, or shock caused by the striking together of two bodies.
  • noun The act of detonating a percussion cap in a firearm.
  • noun A method of medical diagnosis in which various areas of the body, especially the chest, back, and abdomen, are tapped to determine by resonance the condition of internal organs.
  • noun The section of a band or orchestra composed of percussion instruments.
  • noun Percussion instruments or their players considered as a group.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To arrange (a firearm) by fitting it with a percussion-lock, so that it may be fired by percussion.
  • In medicine, to treat by means of percussion massage.
  • noun The act of percussing, or the striking of one body against another with some violence; forcible collision.
  • noun The state of being percussed; the shock produced by the collision of bodies.
  • noun The impression or effect of sound on the ear.
  • noun In medicine: In diagnosis, the method of striking or tapping the surface of the body for the purpose of determining the condition of the organs in the region struck. It is employed chiefly in the diagnosis of diseases of the lungs, heart, and abdominal organs.
  • noun In therapeutics, tapping or striking in various ways with the hand or with an instrument as a therapeutic measure and a part of general massage.
  • noun In music, the production of a tone by a stroke or a blow, as upon any keyboard-instrument.
  • noun In palmistry, the outer side of the hand; the side of the hand opposite the thumb.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of percussing, or striking one body against another; forcible collision, esp. such as gives a sound or report.
  • noun Hence: The effect of violent collision; vibratory shock; impression of sound on the ear.
  • noun (Med.) The act of tapping or striking the surface of the body in order to learn the condition of the parts beneath by the sound emitted or the sensation imparted to the fingers. Percussion is said to be immediate if the blow is directly upon the body; if some interventing substance, as a pleximeter, is, used, it is called mediate.
  • noun See under Center.
  • noun a bullet containing a substance which is exploded by percussion; an explosive bullet.
  • noun a small copper cap or cup, containing fulminating powder, and used with a percussion lock to explode gunpowder.
  • noun See under Fuze.
  • noun the lock of a gun that is fired by percussion upon fulminating powder.
  • noun a match which ignites by percussion.
  • noun powder so composed as to ignite by slight percussion; fulminating powder.
  • noun a machine for sorting ores by agitation in running water.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun countable the collision of two bodies in order to produce a sound
  • noun countable the sound so produced
  • noun countable the detonation of a percussion cap in a firearm
  • noun medicine the tapping of the body as an aid to medical diagnosis
  • noun music the section of an orchestra or band containing percussion instruments; such instruments considered as a group
  • noun engineering the repeated striking of an object to break or shape it, as in percussion drilling

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the section of a band or orchestra that plays percussion instruments
  • noun tapping a part of the body for diagnostic purposes
  • noun the act of playing a percussion instrument
  • noun the act of exploding a percussion cap

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin percussiō, percussiōn-, from percussus, past participle of percutere, to percuss; see percuss.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin percussiō ("striking"), from percutiō ("I strike").

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Examples

  • Come stick upon us for an exhilarating as well as singular Latin percussion unison featuring.

    li concerts summer 2009 admin 2009

  • On works like "Dex Mex" and "Seventh Avenue South," the percussion is so intrinsically integrated into the tune that it was no surprise to learn they were both compositions of Victor Lewis.

    Masters and Young Bloods Will Friedwald 2010

  • Come stick upon us for an exhilarating as well as singular Latin percussion unison featuring.

    Archive 2009-12-01 admin 2009

  • I've played piano since I was four, been singing almost as long, played trumpet and French horn during my band years and even dabbled in percussion by playing in what's known as "the pit" (the xylophone, marimba, etc.) when I was in drum corps.

    slayground: Interview: Caridad Ferrer Little Willow 2006

  • The percussion is a lot more raw as well, but it's nice.

    What a time, what a time (Music (For Robots)) 2005

  • Discussion is a grandchild of the word percussion—banging against each other, noisy collision; whereas dialogue originates from the idea of coming through the conversation to a higher meaning than any one individual could come to alone.

    Navigating the Winds of Change LYNN ANDERSON 1994

  • The DJ has just finished her first set, and my band - acoustic guitars, stand-up bass, Latin American percussion - are waging a sonic battle with a gaggle of what look to be hyped-up secretaries out for a loud night on the town.

    Deutsche Welle: DW-WORLD.DE 2010

  • Trumpets, Cornopeans and Tubas; "percussion" -- this contains the

    The Recent Revolution in Organ Building Being an Account of Modern Developments George Laing Miller

  • Because of the size and shape of small diameter wells and the equipment required to sink them, there are only two different kinds of drilling motion that are used (Fig. 10-2): a. up and down - called percussion

    Chapter 6 1980

  • Jagger told Rolling Stone magazine that he and Richards overdubbed percussion and guitar, respectively, on some of the bonus tracks.

    Latest News - Yahoo!7 News 2010

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