whang
1 Americannoun
-
a resounding blow.
-
the sound produced by such a blow.
the whang of gongs and cymbals.
verb (used with object)
-
whangs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
whanged,
past participle, past
-
whanging
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
whangs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
whanged,
past participle, past
-
whanging
present participle
verb
noun
-
the resounding noise produced by a heavy blow
-
a heavy blow
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
whangsimple
-
whangssimple
-
have whangedperfect
-
has whangedperfect
-
am whangingprogressive
-
are whangingprogressive
-
is whangingprogressive
-
have been whangingperfect progressive
-
has been whangingperfect progressive
Past
-
whangedsimple
-
had whangedperfect
-
was whangingprogressive
-
were whangingprogressive
-
had been whangingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of whang1
First recorded in 1815–25; imitative
Origin of whang2
1530–40; originally Scots form of thwang, early form of thong ( cf. whack, whittle); sense “penis” perhaps an unrelated expressive word ( cf. dong 3)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Phil Mickelson slid down a hill on his butt like he was riding a saucer, and John Daly decided to whang a club into Lake Michigan in mid-tantrum.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 14, 2015
Along Broadway and Commerce streets the whine and whang of steel-string guitars floated through doorways.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 7, 2014
Here is an old-time bard trying manfully to "whang 'is bloomin' lyre" to the rhythms of his youth.
From Time Magazine Archive
By the 17 look of him he was about ready to whang loose through the door.
From Crooked Trails and Straight by D. C. Hutchison
That "whang" was the blow with which the door, wrenched off its hinges, was flung against the side of the wood-house.
From Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Ten Christmas stories by Edward E. Hale
It regularly whangs New York's archaic divorce laws and the breach of promise racket.
From Time Magazine Archive
A chance to catch a new nightclub star, Trini Lopez, who whangs at his guitar and sings.
From Time Magazine Archive
And the name which Queen Mary will cry as she whangs the bottle, will not be Britannia, but Victoria.
From Time Magazine Archive
Around here the people seem content to settle for whatever scars life whangs them with as a decoration.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
I therefore fell out, took off my boots, and put on a pair of "whangs," so as to march as easy as possible.
From My First Campaign by J. W. Grant
The sky was lost in smoke, balls of fire whanged in all directions, and the surrounding woodland was magically garnished by endless streamers of colored paper.
From Time Magazine Archive
They flayed Tammany and the Trusts, boomed Bryan, whanged McKinley, eagle-screamed at Spain until they brought on war.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the melee, Charles Farrell romped by, whanged the ball between the posts for a goal.
From Time Magazine Archive
For ten years whooping moppets have whanged rubber and composition automobiles into other toy automobiles, table legs, baseboards.
From Time Magazine Archive
The sharp, pointed fragment hit a hollow tooth and whanged into the nerve.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Or an emptiness so sudden it leaves the girders whanging in the absence of wind, the sky milk-blue and astringent?
From Economist ● Jan. 25, 2018
Her strokes had so much force behind them they practically made whanging noises and would have done good work in a foundry.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 6, 2015
The night before the convention closed, Ron Paul took the stage to the whanging guitar opening of “Revolution” by the Beatles.
From New York Times ● Jan. 25, 2014
Which is a hell of a thing to do when, as Edwards says, you have 16-year-old fast bowlers whanging down beamers at your head to try and prove a point.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 25, 2011
Long before the machine itself could be seen, its whanging, resonant hum would come floating out of the blazing sky, seemingly from everywhere at once.
From With the Turks in Palestine by Alexander Aaronsohn
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
