whopping

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English[edit]

WOTD – 29 September 2017

Etymology[edit]

A model of a blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, New York, USA. The blue whale is the largest animal known to have ever existed, and to date the heaviest weight of one such creature has been recorded at a whopping 173 tonnes.

whop (verb) +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

whopping (not comparable)

  1. (colloquial) Exceptionally great or large.
    It weighed a whopping 700 pounds when it was full.
    • 1852, Henry Howard Paul, “Old Dan of Connecticut River”, in Dashes of American Humour, London: Piper Brothers and Co., Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 37:
      [H]e went his way rejoicing—an eccentric, sun-browned, good-natured, athletic man, with no strong affection for anything except his rifle, and a predilection for relating "whopping" stories of his travels, and incidents of adventure which no mortal since the days of Baron Munchausen could have experienced under any possible circumstances.
      The word appears to be used here in the sense of a "whopping lie".
    • 1852, Jerome V[an] C[roninsfield] Smith, “Smyrna”, in Turkey and the Turks: Or, Travels in Turkey, Boston, Mass.: F. Gleason's Publishing Hall, corner of Bromfield and Tremont Streets, →OCLC, page 83, column 2:
      There are runners in abundance who intercept strangers, strongly recommending certain lodgings as being desirable on account of location and economy, for which they get a handsome percentage. Abraham told a whopping lie to secure our patronage, by saying, our countryman, a gentleman who had preceded us by about a week, had left special directions for him to wait upon us. Such politeness led at once to an engagement. However, he was subsequently dismissed in disgrace.
    • 2009, John Kricher, “For the Love of Biodiversity (and Stable Ecosystems?)”, in The Balance of Nature: Ecology’s Enduring Myth, Princeton, N.J., Woodstock, Oxfordshire: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, pages 170–171:
      Because of its great length, the snake [a pit viper, Lachesis muta] has a long striking range and is alleged to, on occasion, strike without any warning (unlike a rattlesnake, whose audible vibrating tail signals that the animal is agitated). Long hypodermic fangs deliver a whopping dose of venom.
    • 2013, Agnieszka Biskup, “Forcing the Issue”, in Jennifer Besel, editor, The Gripping Truth about Forces and Motion (Fact Finders. LOL Physical Science.), North Mankato, Minn.: Capstone Press, →ISBN, page 13:
      Weight is actually a measurement of the gravitational pull on an object. If you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, Earth's gravity is pulling you down with 100 pounds of force. […] On our massive Sun, you'd weigh a whopping 2,800 pounds!
    • 2017 March 1, Anthony Zurcher, “Trump addresses Congress: A kinder, gentler president”, in BBC News‎[1], archived from the original on 5 June 2017:
      Defence spending, as promised last week, is headed for a $54bn boost. Now Mr [Donald] Trump has revealed the size of his planned infrastructure programme, and it's a whopping $1 trillion.
    • 2022, StrategyWiki‎[2]:
      Stay on the balance lift until the rope breaks, and score a whopping 1000 points! Be prepared to jump at the last moment to save your life.

Usage notes[edit]

In current use, this adjective usually precedes a number.

Synonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Adverb[edit]

whopping (not comparable)

  1. (colloquial) Exceedingly, extremely, very.
    • 1962 September 28, “Shall We Dance? Thud!”, in Life, volume 53, number 13, Chicago, Ill.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 57:
      Is she doing a tango? A buck and wing? A soulful modern ballet? No, Joan Crawford is having a whopping good time learning judo, the Japanese art of self-defense, for her new movie, The Caretakers. Joan plays a nurse who uses judo holds to subdue unruly patients in a mental hospital.
    • 2000, James Riordan, When the Guns Fall Silent, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN:
      Doss and I run the house, cooking dinner—whopping great pots of stew and rice, sewing and darning clothes, ironing, bathing the kids, blacking the grate, scrubbing the doorstep, running errands.

Synonyms[edit]

Verb[edit]

whopping

  1. present participle and gerund of whop.

Noun[edit]

whopping (plural whoppings)

  1. A beating.
    • 1854 May 20, “The Monitorial System of Harrow School. From the Literary Gazette.”, in E[liakim] Littel, editor, Littel’s Living Age, volume V (Second Series; volume XLI from the start), number DXXII, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y., Philadelphia, Pa.: Littel, Son and Company, →OCLC, page 367:
      When I saw Dr. Vaughan, he was excessively kind, and told me that he was exceedingly sorry that I should have got into a mess with any of the monitors, and that, as far as he heard, I was to blame in what I had said, and so he should advise me to take the whopping, as there was no cowardice in taking anything from a legal power.
    • 2013 April, Frederic H. Finnis, chapter 1, in Turning Back the Pages 1993–1923, Victoria, B.C.: FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 6:
      At least this taught me to hate violence which to me translated into thick ears or sound whoppings on the behind.

Synonyms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

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