percussion

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The striking together of two bodies, especially when noise is produced.
2. n. The sound, vibration, or shock caused by the striking together of two bodies.
3. n. The act of detonating a percussion cap in a firearm.
4. n. 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.
5. n. Music The section of a band or orchestra composed of percussion instruments.
6. n. Music Percussion instruments or their players considered as a group.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of percussing, or the striking of one body against another with some violence; forcible collision.
2. n. The state of being percussed; the shock produced by the collision of bodies.
3. n. The impression or effect of sound on the ear.
4. n. 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.
5. n. 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.
6. n. In music, the production of a tone by a stroke or a blow, as upon any keyboard-instrument. Specifically— In musical composition, the occurrence of a dissonant tone; the actual sounding of a discord: distinguished from preparation on the one hand and resolution on the other.
7. n. In palmistry, the outer side of the hand; the side of the hand opposite the thumb.
8. To arrange (a firearm) by fitting it with a percussion-lock, so that it may be fired by percussion.
9. In medicine, to treat by means of percussion massage.

Wiktionary

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

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of percussing, or striking one body against another; forcible collision, esp. such as gives a sound or report.
2. n. Hence: The effect of violent collision; vibratory shock; impression of sound on the ear.
3. n. (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.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the section of a band or orchestra that plays percussion instruments
2. n. tapping a part of the body for diagnostic purposes
3. n. the act of playing a percussion instrument
4. n. the act of exploding a percussion cap