percuss

English

Etymology

From Latin percussus, past participle of percutiō (“strike, beat”), from per (“through”) + quatiō (“shake, strike”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pəˈkʌs/, [pəˈkʰʌs]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɚˈkʌs/, [pɚˈkʰʌs]
• Rhymes: -ʌs
• Hyphenation: per‧cuss

Verb

percuss (third-person singular simple present percusses, present participle percussing, simple past and past participle percussed)

1. (transitive) To strike; to hit; to knock; to give a blow to.

   Solid bodies, if they be very softly percussed, give no sound.

   • c. 1619, John Ford (formerly attributed to Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher), The Laws of Candy, [Act II, Scene i], page 304:

     Give me thy hand Gonzalo, thou art in our favour, / For we do love to cheriſh lofty ſpirits, / Such as percuſſe the Earth, and bound / With an erected countenance to the clouds.

2. (intransitive) To impact.

   Falling on the roof of the caravan, the hailstones percussed noisily.

3. (transitive, chiefly medicine) To attempt to divine the location or other quality of something by tapping on (an overlying surface).

   The doctor percussed his chest to determine whether he had pneumonia.

   • 2016, Susan F. Wilson, Jean Foret Giddens, Health Assessment for Nursing Practice, Elsevier Health Sciences, →ISBN, page 259:

     PERCUSS the abdomen for tones. Percuss the abdomen when you suspect distention, fluid, or solid masses. Procedure: See Chapter 3 for the procedures for percussion. Percuss all quadrants for tones, using indirect percussion to assess density of abdominal contents (Fig. 13-11). Percuss in each quadrant for tympany and dullness. FIG. 13-11 Systematic Route for Abdominal Percussion.

4. (transitive, chiefly medicine) To attempt to divine the location or other quality of (something) by tapping on an overlying surface.

   Percussing a patient's spleen is best done while he is on his back.

   • 2007, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Emergency Nursing Made Incredibly Easy!, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, →ISBN:

     As you percuss the kidneys, check for pain or tenderness, behind other organs which suggests a kidney infection. Remember to percuss both sides of the body to assess both kidneys.

Related terms

• percussant
• percussion
• percussive

 

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “percuss”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Further reading

• “percuss”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “percuss”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “percuss”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• cuspers, spruces