Green’s Dictionary of Slang

see also under ka...

messed up, confused, with overtones of attendant noise.

1985

G.L. Cohen Studies in Sl. Pt 1 3: kerbolluxed (questionnaire: Northeast) ‘He got things all kerbolluxed up’ (= mixed up, but associated noise and rather obvious confusion.

crazy, chaotic, disorganised; usu. in phr. go kerflooey, to go to pieces, to break down.

1913		Jacksonian (Cimarron, KS) 25 Sept. 1/5: Our friends [...] who think that western Kansas is busted and gone ker-flooey.
1918		K. MacLeish letter 15 May in Rossano Price of Honor (1991) 160: Voilà! The chance to be a hero gone caflooey!
1918		Wash. Times (DC) 6 Feb. 3/5: He gives a howl of anguish; / Says that things have gone gaflooey.
1922		Southwestern Reporter CCXXXIV 554/2: Then in popular lingo the ‘Cabelleras de Honor’ went ‘kerflooey’.
1922		L.J. Vance Linda Lee, Incorporated 190: ‘If we stick in anybody that hasn’t,’ Jacques interpolated, ‘the whole works will postolutely go ker-flooey.’.
1926		J. Tully Jarnegan (1928) 239: That little broad thought I’d go kerfluey when she took the fade-out.
1927		H. Miller Moloch 22: The whole place went kerflooey.
1938		‘Super-Service’ Sl.’ in AS XIII:4 Dec. 315/1: cafluey. Said of a car that has developed many defects that will mean major repairs. Used with go. [...] ‘That car has gone cafluey.’.
1939		J.T. Farrell Tommy Gallagher’s Crusade 37: He had a hat store out in Flushing and he was doin’ good, and then with bad times it went kerflooie, and he’s on his ear now.
1951		B. Schulberg Disenchanted 291: Went kerflooey on me yesterday.
1966		J. Barth Giles Goat-Boy 226: ‘That was two-three years ago,’ he said; ‘before things went kerflooey.’.
1981		S. King Cujo (1982) 149: What if the car goes kerflooey? [Ibid.] 154: Guess it’s still kerflooey.
1987		New Amer. Writing I–IV 49: Contents crated, carted off to the mangrove swamp where compasses go kerflooey.
1999		P.J. O’Rourke East the Rich 42: Four other major pyramid schemes quit paying interest and froze most accounts, which is to say they went kerflooey, too.
2003		C. Friday Lelooska 94: I had a great year, I had good grades, elected student body president, all that kind of stuff, and then Dad’s business went kerflooey.

see separate entries.

(US) cavorting, jumping around excitedly.

1878

Guild Old Times n.p.: Busiris was still ‘kerlaraping.’ ‘Hold him, Jesse. Don’t let him break down the fence’ [DA].

an onomat. term indicating the clandestine, slinking movement of an animal or human, e.g. The cat went kershlunk into the bushes.

1985

G.L. Cohen Studies in Sl. Pt 1 9: kershlunk (questionnaire; Texas): is used to indicate a quick, furtive movement into a place where the individual (human or non-human) should not go. There’s no sound, but the -slunk or -shlunk is related to slink. Also used for a quick, furtive, frightened movement into a hiding place.

see separate entries.

see also under ka...!

an onomat. term indicating a sudden noise or sharp shock.

1910		D. Runyon ‘The Language of the Gloves’ reprinted in Miami News (FL) 6 Feb. 1954 12/1: For I hear his right hand up and speak and it say to the left / ‘Ker-bam! Ker-bam! That’s all’.
1920		Wash. Times (DC) 15 Aug. 24/4: Lewis pummeled the pill rudely. It went ker-bam up against second base.
1933		Statesville Record (NC) 17 Nov. 9/2: ‘Kerbam’ went the whole works and left us high and dry.
1947		Miami News 7 June 27/4: The three cages slipped oveer the side and hit the street, kerbam! and every door — boy, howdy! — popped wide open.
1958		Fort Lauderdale (FL) 22 Aug. 3/1: He just ran his old car, ker-bam, right into the back of Portfirio’s new red one.
1971		Quad-City Times (Davenport, IA) 17 Oct. 14/1: The drawer crashed, kerbam, to the floor.
1981		Courier-Jrnl (Louisville, KY) 11 June 8/5: A figure-8 stock-care race [...] sounds like a ‘Batman’ script, full of booms, pops and kerbams .
1996		Quad-City Times (Davenport, IA) 5 Mar. 2/1: Allison landed ker-bam right on the hardwood in front of me. He looked to be out cold.
2001		Tom of Cheyenne ‘Flo Flea’s Wild Ride’ BarnYarns 🌐 As soon as Joe saw Zam bop the guy, Joe just automatically stuck his shades in his pocket and hit the first man closest to him. Kerbam!
2002		J. Whyle ‘B-Grade’ S. Afr. Film Website 🌐 Frank had created himself in the shape of a comic book hero. [...] You could put him against a blue back ground with a speech bubble coming out of his mouth saying ‘Kerbam!!’.

an onomat. term indicating a sudden sharp noise or explosion.

1869		Western Reserve Chron. (Warren, OH) 24 Mar. 1/6: We went buzzing along, when crack, kerbang, and we inside were a struggling mass of humanity.
1874		Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic.) 21 Apr. 4/5: The discharge of the horse-pistol occurred with a kerbang which attracted general attention in the neighborhood.
1881		Sedalia Wkly Bazoo (MO) 26 July 8/3: With a rip, whiz, ker-bang on he came.
1891		Sun. Herald (DC) 9 Aug. 13/1: Then in he jumped in the air ’bout fifteen feet, an’ come down stiff-legged, ker-bang!
1895		Dly Morn. Jrnl 4 Dec. 12/4: When in a hurry and when violent you do things kabang, kachunk, kaflop, kaslam.
1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 180: Along comes the pore, benighted Juggins with the puddin’-basin as the ‘D’ had planted on him; acrosst the road rushes Ben — kerbiff! — kerbang!
1905		Yakima Herald (WA) 1 Nov. 10/4: Ker-Biff! Ker-Bang! Smash!
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 162/1: ‘Ker’ is also frequently used before words implying movement, as kersmash, kerbang, kerash (crash), kerflummux, kerslap.
1917		Wash. Times (DC) 7 Jan. 9/4: The first two times he tried it he fell back kerbang and hit his head.

an onomat. term indicating a sudden blow.

1871		Day’s Doings (NY) 27 May 302/4: The stubborn young rascal wouldn’t speak and ker-biff he got it on the other side of the head and again he found himself sprawling on the floor.
1875		Wkly Caucasian (Lexington, MO) 24 June 1/5: David [...] sent a stone ker-biff which crushed in the skull just between the eyes.
1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 180: Along comes the pore, benighted Juggins with the puddin’-basin as the ‘D’ had planted on him; acrosst the road rushes Ben — kerbiff! — kerbang!
1902		Minneapolis Jrnl (Minn.) 11 June n.p.: He scrambled ’bout half-way down de bee tree, en den he turn eve’ything loose en hit de groun’ kerbiff!
1915		N.Y. Tribune 25 July 14/3: The kitten hopped. Ker-biff! Ker-bump! / And off they started with a jump.
1927		C. Woofter ‘Dialect Words & Phrases from West-Central West Virginia’ in AS II:8 358: John hit the man kerbiff.

an onomat. term indicating a sudden blow.

1850		Wilmington Jrnl (NC) 8 Mar. 4/3: [He] whopped er whole han’ full o’ saw dust kerbim into his face.
1851		‘How Sally Hooter Got Snake-Bit’ in T.A. Burke Polly Peablossom’s Wedding 70: She didn’t say nare a word, but she turned ’round an’ took me kerbim right ’tween the eyes!
1901		Larens Advertiser (SC) 18 Sept. 1/5: I located the [wasp] nest [...] and waas fast filling up when an outsider took me ‘ker-bim’, on the back of the neck.
1911		Day Book (Chicago) 14 Aug. 11/2: Sassoon stabbed his wooden leg th’oo a knot-hole in de flo’ [...] and cracks de Bishop’s bowed head ker-bim.

an onomat. term indicating a sudden shock or explosion.

1880		J.C. Harris in Eve. Star (DC) 20 Mar. 7/2: He came lumberin’ ’long, en he hit — ker-blam! — right in de middle er de fire.
1884		‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn 234: Long come de wind en slam it to, behine de chile, ker-blam!
1909		Wash. Times (DC) 10 Jan. 5/6: I raise dis stick anner comes clean down on de haid kerblam, jiss lak dat.
1910		Anadarko Daily Democrat (OK) 21 Nov. 2/5: A boa’d fell down ker-blim! ker-blam!
1942		Z.N. Hurston in Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 26/2: Ker-blam-er-lam-er-lam! And dat was de last of Brer Engine-driving Monk.
1966		‘Tom Pendleton’ Iron Orchard (1967) 67: Ker-blam! Next thing I know I’m a-comin’ to, layin on the steps.

(US) an onomat. term indicating a sudden shock or explosion.

1937

Central New Jersey Home News (New Brunswick, NJ) 14 Aug. 8/7: And kerblinkety — volunteer firemen from the henry street fire house had their shiny truck out in no time.

an onomat. term indicating annoyance, irritation.

1942

Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl. §140.2:: kerblinkity-blunk.

an onomat. term indicating the noise of something hitting the (soft) ground.

1884		Daily Eve. Bulletin (Maysville, KY) 28 Jan. n.p.: Icy walk / Sudden slip / Down you go / Ker blip / Up aghain / You say —! / Down again / Ker blam.
1895		Salt Lake Herald (UH) 12 May 12/3: I was [...] listenin’ to a hook-nosed feller tellin’ a funny story, when all of a sudden — kerblip!
1904		‘O. Henry’ Cabbages and Kings 106: The sea was remarking ‘Sh-sh-sh’ on the beach; and now and then a ripe coconut would drop kerblip in the sand.

an onomat. term indicating the noise of a solid object hitting the (soft) ground.

1917		J.H. Ferguson Nashville Globe 21 Dec. 11/2: Den all at wunc’ de ’possum jez ris right up an’ jumped / Right onto de rahcoon, right on his haid, kerblump.
1929		Morn. Call (Allentown, PA) 7 May 21/3: The constant ker-blump of large tallowy torsos hitting the canvas.
1931		Star Trib. (Minneapolis, MN) 12 Apr. 26/4: The ker-blump of, say, 200 pounds of suet hitting the resined deck is music to my ears.
1963		Edward Gorey ‘The Wuggly Ump’ (poem) 🌐 Across the hills the Wuggly-Ump / is hurtling on! Kerbash! Kerblump!

an onomat. term indicating the noise of a solid object hitting (or being hit by) another one.

1994		Albuquerque Jrnl (NM) 25 Dec. 61/3: The steady ker-bonk of a bruised ball thumping on a dirt court.
2002		Barbanne Play Dead Stories Part 27, ‘Long Pigs’ 🌐 Sherry appeared from the left and found me ready for the cook pot. ‘EEEEEEEEEEKKK!!!’ She shrieked and flapped her hands in very girlie fashion. KERBONK!!!! Sharlene’s club whacked down.

an onomat. term indicating the collision of two hard objects; also as v. to suggest movement entailing a series of collisions.

1876		Raleigh Sentinel (NC) 10 Oct. 3/2: The man upm the tree hung by the limb a second, and then dropper kerbump into the crowd.
1885		Coffeyville Wkly Jrnl (KS) 7 Mar. 7/2: A man may be as full of piety as a Sunday-school book, and still look wicked when he comes down kerbump on an icy sidewalk.
1898		Manhattan Nationalist (KS) 23 Dec. 6/1: I rise and meekly brush my pants / To fall again kerbump.
1905		Caucasian (Shrevepoty, LA) 2 Apr. 5/4: One green motorman let a subway train land at a station with an awful ker-bump. It broke windows, knocked passengers over and caused a mild panic.
1915		N.Y. Tribune 25 July 14/3: The kitten hopped. Ker-biff! Ker-bump! / And off they started with a jump.
1923		Bismarck Trib. (ND) 13 Nov. 6/2: Suddenly the twins were dumped of on the ground, kerbump!
1934		Oakland Trib. (CA) 5 Nov. 24/4: Uncle Wiggily jumped up in the air [...] and he landed ker-bump in the bushes.
1948		Gaz. & Dly (York, PA) 23 jan. 40/1: And just as he was wondering what would happen next — ker-bump! The snowball went to pieces.
1953		Chicago Trib. 14 Nov. 21/1: Plunk! Gavilan’s left shot to Bratton’s badly swollen eyes. Kerwash! I would land on his nose . . . Kerbump! it would crash against johnny’s jaw.
1966		Star Press (Muncie, IN) 17 Feb. 4/2: Ker-bump! he walked into O Wayne oBtkin [sic] advertising director of the Muncie Star.
1973		Arizona Dly Star (Tucson, AZ) 6 Apr. 68/6: In bad weather Tucson residents go kerthud into endless chuckholes and in better weather they go ker-bump over these same raised chuckholes.
1974		Ottowa Jrnl 30 July 36/2: Our old house went ‘ker-bump, ker-bump, plonk’ all night long.
1986		Palm Beach Post (FL) 5 Sept. 34/3: Didn’t they ever go ker-bump in a pothole?
1999		Cincinnati Enquirer(OH) 3 Sept. 22/1: The Bengals kerbump from problem to problem, like a blind man in an unfamiliar room.
2013		Chillicothe Gaz. (OH) 2 Nov. B3/5: The worst was watching Artkins, on critches, kerbump from the visitors’ locker room to the team bus.

1. an onomat. term indicating the sound of something falling fast and hard.

1845		Springville Exp. (NY) 18 July 1/1: But, ere you can get it half way up, / Adown he goes ker-chug.
1857		Glasgow Wkly Times (MO) 19 Nov. 1/5: Kerchug! I lit ten foot from the bank at the first jump and had Kate out of thar in no time.
1864		Janesville Wkly Gaz. (WI) 1 July 4/4: The reb says ‘Uncle john, you are nmot going to kill your old master, are you’ ‘Satrin sure I is,’ and kerchug, kerchug went his bayonet through him.
1875		Memphis Dly Appeal (TN) 28 July 3/3: The boys [...] see ther banks cave in, and hear the chunks of levee ho in, ker-chug!
1884		New Ulm Wkly Rev. (Minn.) 13 Aug. 1/5: Dad’s hands slipped off, and down went his fists kerchug into the gravel.
1901		T. Hammond On Board a Whaler 201: Jest as soon as he saw that skin, kerchug went both irons into it.
1905		Commoner (Lincoln, NE) 13 Oct. 1/1: They are worried in Ohio - Herrick will fall down ker-chug!
1908		L.W. Payne Jr ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:iv 326: ker-choo, -chug [...] adv. Imitative of the sound made by something falling precipitously into water; also violently, rapidly, precisely, exactly.
1914		Kayti Herald (MO) 11 June 8/6: Some men who pose as high flyers land with a dull, sickening ker-chug.
1921		Eve. Public Ledger (Phila., PA) 7 June 13/2: Folly Wisher tumbled kerchug into a third furry cushion.
1947		News-Messenger (Fremont, OH) 1 Nov. 12/3: His foot slipped and he went into the green water with a ‘kerchung’ like a bull frog landing in a soup kettle.

2. (US) used to indicate the sound of rhythmical noise.

1892		St Paul Dly Globe (Minn.) 10 Apr. 11/6: The kerchug of Benny’s hoofs could no longer be heard.
1912		Citizen (Honesdale, PA) 31 May 2/3: Down she came like a ripe apple. It was a kerchug of a drop.
1931		Phila. Inquirer (PA) 6 June 12/2: I sat [...] listenting to the kerchug kerchug of the old-fashioned register of time.
1966		Quad-City Times (IO) 6 July 3/2: The soft ker-chug ker-chug of a heavy steam crane working.

an onomat. term indicating the sound of a solid object hitting the ground (occas. the water) or two solid objects colliding.

1836		People’s Press (Wilmington, NC) 22 Apr. 1/5: ‘Jump in,’ says he [...] and in I went kerchunk.
1845		W.T. Porter Big Bear of Arkansas (1847) 124: Chunkey lathered away, and ca chunk! he went into the creek.
1847		Democratic Banner (Pike Cty, Miss) 12 Apr. 1/4: Sally’s bustle busted just as the sermon was done an’ all the corn came out on the floor, cachunk!
1850		W.K. Northall Life and Recollections of Yankee Hill 39: He took me by the coat-collar, and pulled me in kerchunk.
1850		Keowee Courier (Pickens Court hse, SC) 26 Oct. 1/6: Preacher tried to pass Colt, and cowollop, crosh, cochunk! we all cum down like ’simmons arter frost.
1851		J.J. Hooper Adventures of Captain Suggs, etc. 197: They’d hit pretty close by me, ca-junk.
1861		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 5 Apr. 3/1: A body is said to go [...] ‘Kesouse,’ or ‘cachunk’ into water.
1861		Cleveland Morn. Leader (OH) 22 Jun. 3/2: He came down ca-chunk upon the ground.
1866		C.H. Smith Bill Arp 42: Some of them whistling bullets or singing bombs will take my old gizzard, kerchunk.
1872		Schele De Vere Americanisms 188: It is not impossible that the odd expletive kerchunk may be in some vague way associated with the noise caused by the sudden falling of a chunk [Ibid.] 590: Cashunk, with a very slight and indistinct sound of the first syllable, is an exclamation, imitative of a sudden noise, like thump, largely used in New England and the South and West. A purely onomatopoetic word, without original meaning, it has hence but a very uncertain form, and reappears, a very Proteus, in an almost endless variety of sounds and spellings. New England has keshonk and keshwosh, the West, kerchug, kewosh, and cashwash.
1872		Petroleum Centre Daily Record (PA) 27 June 2/2: The waters no longer leap out [...] in wavy films [...] Oh! no — but drops ‘kerchunk’ into the receptacle.
1885		Daily Eve. Bulletin (Maysville, KY) 12 Oct. 2/2: Down he comes wid a kerchunk dat am heard all ober de state.
1888		Fostorio Democrat 8 Mar. n.p.: The fence broke down, and kerchunk! I went right through the ice all over [F&H].
1890		Sacramento Dly Record-Union (CA) 25 Jan. 3/2: Up jumps another old buck, and — kerchunk!
1895		Dly Morn. Jrnl 4 Dec. 12/4: When in a hurry and when violent you do things kabang, kachunk, kaflop, kaslam.
1897		O. Wister Lin McLean 22: ‘Wheels?’ ‘Don’t yu’ hear ’em?’ said Lin [...] ‘Ker-chunk-a-chunk’s all I make it.’.
1902		Houston Daily Post (TX) 7 Nov. 10/2: Like the small boy falling down stairs ca-chunk, ca-chunk, until he reaches the bottom.
1906		Anderson Intelligencer (SC) 3 Jan. 3/4: It was sent, with increasing speed, back against the train, which it struck ‘Kerchunk’.
1908		L.W. Payne Jr ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:iv 326: ker-choo, -chug, -chunk [...] adv. Imitative of the sound made by something falling precipitously into water; also violently, rapidly, precisely, exactly.
1912		S.F. Call 5 Oct. 6/1: A leapfrog spring through the air and both hands come biffing kerchunk on the wall.
1920		Ogden Standard Examiner (UT) 30 Aug. n.p.: It sounded exactly like three ‘kerchunks’ under the mud.
1995		J. Stahl Permanent Midnight 118: Ka-Chunk . . . . The thing exploded off his helmet.
1999		T. Dorsey Florida Roadkill 116: The car began making a ker-chunk noise.

(US) an onomat. term echoic of something liquid hitting a solid surface or a solid object hitting liquid; also adv.

1893		Montgomery Advertiser (AL) 30 Apr. 14/1: Bunk landed slap kerdap in a mud-hole clost [sic] by.
1939		J.L. Dove ‘Fighting Ben’ in Mss. from the Federal Writers’ Project 🌐 ‘Have you receipts to prove your claim?’ I asked. Yes, jist like this: ‘kerdap,’ she spit at me.
1954		(con. 1920s–30s) J.O. Killens Youngblood (1956) 129: A piece of raindrop hit him kerdap on the nose.
1982		Pensacola News (FL) 7 Jan. 21/1: A bunch of ice boxes kerdap full of slab perches.

(US) an onomat. term indicating the sound of an object hitting a liquid.

1855		Weekly Oregonian 30 June n.p.: The next moment he went kerdash in the water.
1903		Anaconda Standard (MT) 17 Apr. 12/1: Down they went kerdash over the snow-veneered benches of the steep mountain.

(US) an onomat. term indicating a sudden shock or noise.

1858		‘Sut Lovengood’s Lizards’ in Olympia (Wash. Territory) Pioneer 26 Feb. n.p.: He wur plum crazy, an’ jumped over the frunt ov the pulpit, rite inter the pins part ov the kongragation, kerdif.
1861		G.W. Harris ‘Sut Lovingood with Old Abe’ Nashville Union and American XXV Mar. in Inge (1967) 266: I sot in tu sleepin in yurnest, when I hearn ‘kerdiff, kerdiff’.
1873		Times-Democrat (New Orleans) 21 July 3/2: I just brought him a side wipe ‘kerdiff’ [...] an’ knocked him about ten foot!
1893		Keowee Courier (Pickens Court Hse, SC) 23 Mar. 1/3: He [...] leaped over the front of the pulp[it, rite inter the middle ove the pious part ove the kongregation kerdiff!

an onomat. term indicating a sudden noise.

1981		Sydney Morn. Herald 21 Feb. 48/4: A sagging bed that says ‘kerdoing’ and ‘kerdoing-a-doing-a-doing’.
2002		S. Chrisomalis Forthright’s Phrontistery 🌐 gerdoying imitation sound of a crash.
2009		posting to www.cyclingforums.com 🌐 First twilight trip out on the Treaty Road, sure enough, along comes Abdul, ready to stick another hated Brit into the soft stuff. Foot down, swerve across the road – KERDOING!! – and Abdule [sic] was crawling out of the wreckage of his beloved truck.

an onomat. term indicating a sudden shock or gesture.

1856		Squatter Sovereign (Atchison, KS) 15 Apr. 1/7: [He] went ker-flap down into the muddy pool.
1889		Wheeling Intelligencer (WV) 2 Sept. 4/6: She fell on the floor kerflap.
1895		S.F. Call 31 Mar. 6/3: He fall in de preacher bag ker-flap.
1902		Ocala Banner (FL) 14 Feb. 3/3: I have an ace up my sleeve which i shall now throw ker-flap upon the table.
1905		L. Pound ‘Dialect Speech in Nebraska’ in DN III:i 62: kaflop, kaflap, or kerflop, kerflap. Intensives. ‘He fell kaflop on the ice.’.
1912		Leavenworth Echo (WA) 23 Feb. 3/3: Just about the time the tree came down kerflap.
1922		Wash. Times (DC) 27 Apr. 18/6: A swift auto-truck sent our hero ker-flap in the gutter.
1945		Courier-Jrnl (Louisville, KY) 25 June 10/4: [He]jumped up and came down kerflap.
1998		Compleat [sic] Simpleton 1–3 Sept. 🌐 Hitler potato chips cause a flap, Ginger Spice goes kerflap.

an onomat. term indicating the sound of a solid body hitting a soft one or hitting liquid.

1885		Galveston Dly News (TX) 8 Nov. 9/5: Kerflip! I stuck him in de eye.
1888		Dly Commonwealth (Topeka, KS) 3 Mar. 6/2: The Deacon shuffled to the door in his slippers [...] — ker-flip, ker-flap, ker-flip, her-flop’.
1899		Barton Co. Democrat (Great Bend, KS) 2 June 8/2: Kerflip, kerflop!! over he went.
1909		Eaglefield Advertiser (SC) 13 Oct. 4/4: The girl [...] saw her lover coming up the steps — saw him slip — saw him carom kerflip kerflop back to the path below.
1910		Cincinnati Enquirer (OH) 11 Sept. 6/3: Ovah she go, kerflip! — kerflop!
1923		Times Herald (Olean, NY) 25 Apr. 22/8: Ker-flip! ker-flop! down they will go to the bottom.
1939		T.S. Eliot Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats 🌐 Growltiger to his vast surprise was forced to walk the plank / He who a hundred victims had driven to that drop / At the end of all his crimes was forced to go kerflip kerflop.
1954		L.A. Times 30 Mar. 62/2: On gal fell down, kerflip! ker-flop! ker-klunk!
1961		Eugene Guard (OR) 13 June 8/3: Kerflip. Over went the hour hand.
1977		Snuffy Smith 9 Oct. [synd. cartoon] Elviney wuz runnin’ acrost th’ footlog to tell ye so,me gossip, Aunt Loweezy, an’ kerflip!! She fell off th’ footlog?
1993		Guardian Weekend 24 Apr. 23/2: [The fish] comes, kerflip, keflop, straight from Newlyn.

an onomat. term indicating a sudden explosion.

1915		Kinsley Graphic (KS) 10 June 1/2: It looked for a while as if it was going to be as good or better, when all at once ‘Ker-flooey’.
1919		O.R. Cohen ‘Forbidden Fruit’ Breezy Stories Jan. 🌐 All that until Alice Dorrance came into his life. Then—gaflooey!
1920		Little Rock Dly News (AR) 31 July 3/1: ‘Levi’s’ furnishings, silver, china, etc., are missing — lost — kerflooey!
1986		Thacker Pawn 81: Mines. Kablooey! [HDAS].
1994		Time Trax (TV series): I’ll never forget that explosion! Kablooey! [HDAS].
2001		Honolulu Star-Bull. 22 Feb. 🌐 It’s the kind of place where you’d do best by sticking with the basics. Go exploring and you'll likely trip some mines. Kablooey!

an onomat. term indicating the sound of a solid body hitting a soft one or hitting liquid.

1853		Westmorland Gaz. 7 May 3/2: The blood-hound got him by the throat and brought him to the ground (as a red-headed Hoosier expressied it), ‘Ker-flop!’.
1866		Louisville Dly Courier (KY) 5 May 3/5: Down went henry on the criminal bench ‘kerflop’ like a wet dish-rag.
1874		Leeds Times 30 May 6/2: Jist as I was takin’ a peep, my foot slipped and i come kerflop, head and tail.
1887		F. Francis Jr Saddle and Mocassin n.p.: He at last brought the whole tautological string down kerfloop, full and fairly, upon the devoted crown of his auditor [F&H].
1888		Dly Commonwealth (Topeka, KS) 3 Mar. 6/2: The Deacon shuffled to the door in his slippers [...] — ker-flip, ker-flap, ker-flip, her-flop’.
1895		Dly Morn. Jrnl 4 Dec. 12/4: When in a hurry and when violent you do things kabang, kachunk, kaflop, kaslam.
1905		L. Pound ‘Dialect Speech in Nebraska’ in DN III:i 62: kaflop, kaflap, or kerflop, kerflap. Intensives. ‘He fell kaflop on the ice.’.
1908		N.Y. Globe 28 July in Fleming Unforgettable Season (1981) 142: Larry [...] came down kerflop, and then arose.
1910		Daily Press (Newport News, VA) 4 Oct. 5/2: Roll, an’ she roll, twell she come to de top an’ / Ovah she go ’ kerflip, kerflop!
1920		Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang Aug. 11: She tried to stop, she fell derflop [sic].
1927		C. Sandburg ‘Crazy Song’ Amer. Songbag 342: I fell kerflop in a barber shop.
1989		H. Harrison Bill [...] on the Planet of Robot Slaves (1991) 30: Ka-flop! went the garbage.

an onomat. term indicating something solid falling to the ground.

1876		Burlington Free Press (VT) 20 June 4/2: The flesh tore out from the great strain and kerflunk, down went the bight of the chain.
1885		Tennessean (Nashville, TN) 25 Jan. 12/3: I dropped the ice, ‘kerflunk,’ right in the lake.
1891		Topeka State Jrnl (KS) 26 Aug. 7/6: What should the little devil do but [...] send Polly a-shootin’ up in the air, and come down kerflunk [...] in the middle of a sand bed.
1902		L.A. TImes 4 May 38/3: She walked off a platform [...] and fell kerflunk into the pitiless waters of Puget Sound.
1911		Kennewick Courier (WA) 24 Nov. 6/2: He was silently meandering homeward [...] when all at once he stubbed his toe — yes’m stubbed his toe an’ fell down, ker-phunk!
1926		Statesville Record (NC) 12 July 8/5: Crash, jingle, kerflunk went the glass.
1935		Weimar Mercury (TX) 19 July 7/6: Then the transportation concern go ‘kerflunk’ just when you were getting started.
1949		Abilene Reporter-News (TX) 21 Oct. 30/6: A windstorm blew down the derrick and the stock company went kerflunk.
1955		Courier-Jrnl (Louisville, KY) 4 July 60/2: He spread out his arms, dived, and landed kerflunk in the [...] grass.
1967		Courier-Jrnl (Louisville, KY) 18 Dec. 36/1: Kerflunk! Another record bites the dust!
1975		Florence Morn. News (SC) 6 Apr. 24/2: The elctricity goes kerflunk on the appliance that’s your tried-and-true stand-by in the kitchen.
1986		Webster Progress-Times (Eupora, MS) 8 May 13/3: Thinks are looking up a little since the TV went kerflunk.
1995		Times (Munster, IN) 19 Mar. 15/1: The ultramodern computerized baggage system went kerflunk! kerflooey!
2001		‘Woodie’ Dr Karl’s Self Service Science 27 Mar. posting 🌐 PUHLEEZ... Sissy **BLUSH** Oh I’m shocked!! Ohh... Oh.... **fan face** KERFLUNK.... **faint**.

an onomat. term indicating the noise made by the explosion of something soft and messy, e.g. a large fruit or a living body; often used fig. for any form of collapse.

1938		Minneapolis Star (MN) 30 Dec. 13/6: I get these kids [...] I get them in a game and kerplooey — they’re awful.
1941		Wilmington News-Jrnl 2 Oct. 4/2: All the lights going out, ker-plooey.
1956		New Castle News (PA) 6 July 24/4: [headline] What Happens When Everything Goes ‘Kerplooey’ All At Once?
1969		Jrnl News (White Plains, NY) 29 Nov. 14/5: ‘How come since you found God your career went kerplooey?’.
1974		Quad-City Times (Davenport, IA) 27 June 24/2: Then, ker-plooey! — the 26-pound drop [i.e. in water pressure].
1987		Hartford Courant (CT) 4 Jan. E3/25: It is demoralizing when such an enrgetic [...] function goes kerplooey.
1995		Pittsburgh Post-Gaz. (PA) 24 Aug. E5/4: Zimmerman [...] felt his left knee go kerplooey.
2001		‘Spooky’ ‘Haunted’ Virtual X-Files Season 9, Episode 5 🌐 ‘I was just going to turn it off – then kerplooey.’ ‘Kerplooey?’ That eyebrow was raised just so, just the way he liked it. ‘Yes, Scully. Kerplooey. Ka-blam. As in blown to smithereens. Etcetera, etcetera.’.
2013		News-Press (Fort Myers, FL) 30 June A25/2: The air conditioner went kerplooey.

an onomat. term indicating the sound of a solid body hitting or falling, usu. into liquid, or of a bubble bursting in liquid; also as v.

1909		Eve. Chron. (Charlotte, NC) 13 Sept. 5/2: ‘Kerplop’ a rock hit the door.
1912		Logan Republican (UT) 15 Aug. 6/4: She went with a kerplop into water two feet deep.
1920		Tomahawk (Becker Co., Minn.) 23 Dec. 3/3: Santa Claus would [...] kick a lever and down would drop a doll, ker-plop.
1935		Oakland Trib. (CA) 13 Oct. 51/1: I ran right between the man’s legs and, kerplop, down he went.
1943		Olean Times-Herald (NY) 26 Feb. 4/8: They had unintentionally ‘scooted’ into the school and landed ‘kerplop’ [...] on the violin.
1954		Battle Creek Enquirer (MI) 10 Sept. 13/5: Gates hit Ferrazza kerplop in he nose and he went down.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Mama Black Widow 81: His shoes hit the floor, kerplop.
1975		News (Frederick, MD) 16 Aug. 2/2: [He] plummeted — with a large kerplop — into the river.
1986		Palm Beach Post (FL) 23 Feb. D6/6: I hear the music playing at the party’s end. I hear salaries kerplopping on the dance floor.
1991		Times (Munster, IN) 12 June 6/2: 139 [planes] were reported lost of Florida [...] Those are a lot of planes to go kerplop.
2004		Desert Sun (Palm Springs, CA) 26 June F12/3: Kerplop, plop, wiz, fizz oh what a mess it is. Yes the pet has pooped.
2017		Star Trib. (MN) 11 June G5/1: There I was, hurtling down a neon green waterslide [...] until — kerplop! — into the nippy exit pool I went.

an onomat. term indicating the sound of a solid body hitting a soft surface; occas. as v. (see cites 1921, 1922, 1963).

1873		Petroleum Centre Dly Record (PA) 13 Feb. 2/1: .
1882		Omaha Daily Bee (NE) 10 Apr. 7/4: She’d tumble kerplump and stop the show dead.
1892		Wichita Dly Eagle (KS) 3 May 4/4: The manuscript went kerplump into the waste basket.
1903		Wichita Dly Eagle (KS) 19 July 12/3: A rocket him him. Swish! Kerplump — through that hole in his hat.
1911		Nat. Tribune (DC) 13 Apr. 7/3: He came down kerplump on an old rotten-joisted handstand.
1920		Bemidji Dly Pioneer (Minn.) 2 Jan. 6/6: Albin stepped in a hole, kerplump.
1921		Eve. World (NY) 3 Apr. 24/2: To have a lady, big and fat, kerplump down in my lap.
1922		Eve. World (NY) 31 July 20/1: Our heart kerplumps and bucks and jumps.
1931		D. Runyon ‘Breach of Promise’ Runyon on Broadway (1954) 27: He [...] kisses her ker-plump right on the smush.
1943		Lansing State Jrnl (MI) 20 Aug. 8/1: Kerplump all went to the [...] bolshevik end of the bag.
1950		Marion Star (OH) 27 Dec. 6/6: Turn off a clogged artery, shoot down a sidestreet — kerplump — into the water.
1963		Eugene Guard (OR) 31 Aug. 1/2: One of them, a nondescript animal, [...] kerplumps into the water.
1975		Indianapolis News 21 Nov. 27/4: He could hear the ‘kerplump’ when the casket was lowered into the hole.

an onomat. term indicating the sound of a solid body hitting a soft surface.

1850		W.C. Hall ‘Mike Hooter’s Bar Story’ Spirit of the Times 26 Jan. (N.Y.) 581: He cussed ’nuff to send twenty preachers like old Joe Slater an’ Parson Holcom, an’ them kind er Judases, right kerlumpus into hell!
1851		T.A. Burke Polly Peasblossom’s Wedding 52: He cussed nuff to send twenty preachers ker-plumpus into h—.

an onomat. term indicating the sound of a solid body hitting a soft surface.

1995

J. Stahl Permanent Midnight 119: I picked up another [lump of earth], hurled this one at his stomach. Ka-poomph!

(US) an onomat. term indicating a solid noise that is regular and repetitive.

1986

A.D. Foster Aliens 231: Somewhere in the distance a massive mechanical arm or piston was going ka-rank, ka-rank.

(US) a euph. interj., the equivalent of by Christ or by Jesus.

1985

G.L. Cohen Studies in Sl. Pt 1 9: Kershewey (questionnaire: Alabama) ‘Kershewey, it’s hot!’.

an onomat. term indicating a sudden noise or action.

1852		N.O. Crescent (New Orleans) 4 Oct. 2/5: Some had it that the pediment [...] had walked off from its high perch, and landed on the other side of the street — ‘kerslam!’.
1862		Columbia Democrat (PA) 31 May 1/2: The old mare gave an awful jump and Angeline and I [...] went right out of the wagon kerslam.
1882		Watchman & Southron (Sumter, SC) 11 Apr. 1/6: The glass shutters [...] fell down, kerslam.
1888		L.A. Daily Herald 11 Mar. 8/2: Clang, clang [...] kerflap, kerslam [...] rang the big and small bell.
1895		Dly Morn. Jrnl 4 Dec. 12/4: When in a hurry and when violent you do things kabang, kachunk, kaflop, kaslam.
1899		F.T. Bullen The Way they have in the Navy 52: Down came the bunch of sacks kerslam on the deck below.
1903		Daily Public Ledger (Maysville, KY) 1/1: Out comes ’Liza’s broom kerslam!
1908		L.W. Payne Jr ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:iv 326: ker-choo, -chug, [...] ker-slam, adv. Imitative of the sound made by something falling precipitously into water; also violently, rapidly, precisely, exactly.
1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 210: Biff! Bang! Bingo! Swat! Zooie! Ker-slambango-blam!
1921		Eve. Public Ledger (Phila., PA) 7 June 13/2: At the same moment Billy came down kerslam on a second furry cushion.
1935		Courier-Jrnl (Louisville, KY) 17 Nov. sect. 3 8/5: Bang! there goes the door kerslam!
1954		Lubbock Morn. Avalanche (TX) 24 June 8/5: Fate is kicking him ker-slam in the pants.
1968		Kinmundy Exp. (IL) 8 Aug. 2/2: I went down kerslam, by golly.
1988		Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) 9 Nov. 5/3: kerslam! Sparks flew, the hammer lifted and there was the finished article.
1998		Arizona Republican (Phoenix, AZ) 3 May AD6/4: Here came the pitch: ker-slam! the ball was smacked way out there .

an onomat. term indicating a sudden noise or, usu., action.

1846		Cork Examiner 9 Jan. 4/5: He went upon deck, sluff, scuff [...] kerslap, those slippers were in active motion.
1849		Glasgow Wkly Times (MO) 17 May 1/7: She quickly raised it on high, and bro’t it down ‘kerslap’ upon my cheek.
1851		‘How Sally Hooter Got Snake-Bit’ in T.A. Burke Polly Peablossom’s Wedding 74: When I gives the word, then you give him er jerk, and send him kerslap up agin that tree.
1862		‘Artemus Ward’ Artemus Ward, His Book 31: Other peple was sinful as they could be, but Shakers was all right. Shakers was all goin kerslap to the Promist Land.
1873		M. Holley My Opinions and Betsey Bobbet’s 99: I fell kerslap over a rail that lay in the grass.
1881		Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Apr. 9/1: Elizaberth and ‘brothers four’ have gone ‘ker-slap’ to the promised land.
1884		Nat. Republican (DC) 19 May 4/5: When Randall says that the cradle must drap [sic] / Down comes Boss Morrison’s baby kerslap.
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 27 July 6/4: £50 went kerslop over that heat alone.
1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 5 July 12/4: In fact, the crown of martyrdom she was so eager to clutch is a most commonplace affair, and she has come down kerslap from her heroics.
1891		G.R. Sims ‘How to Write a Novel’ Dagonet Ditties 123: But just as his lordship assumes the black cap, / You come to a startling dénouement, ker-slap.
1897		S.F. Call 10 Feb. 6/5: And that’s down to zero — kerslap!
1903		Bourbon News (Paris, KY) 10 July 7/1: He flopped over the eave [...] an’ then hit the ground kerslap.
1908		L.W. Payne Jr ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:iv 326: ker-choo, -chug [...] ker-slam, ker-slap, adv. Imitative of the sound made by something falling precipitously into water; also violently, rapidly, precisely, exactly.
1915		Sun (NY) 28 Feb. 8/3: ‘Kerslap,’ said the gavel, and it was all over.
1920		Morn. Tulsa Dly World (OK) 14 Dec. 4/3: The goddess smiled and then, kerslap! / She dropped her favor in his lap.
1934		Chicago Trib. 5 Oct. 26/3: [D]e breeze mek dat apple drap; / H’it fall an’ smack Paddy kerslap in de eye.
1941		Ottowa Jrnl 26 Sept. 13/2: [Her] brought it down kerslap on the water.
1955		Santa cruz Sentinel (CA) 22 Aug. 4/3: The destoyer escort pauses on the top of a mountainous swell before she goes ‘kerslap’ in a trugh.

an onomat. term indicating movement through a liquid or occas. soft substance, or the falling of a solid object into such a substance.

1843		W.T. Thompson Major Jones’s Courtship (1872) 46: Before I had time to breathe, kerslash I went, right in the cold water.
1855		West. Reserve Chron. (Warren, OH) 10 Oct. 1/7: The next minit, kerslash, he went into the water.
1868		Buffalo Commercial (NY) 27 June 4/7: The pumas’d a finished you off kerslash if you’d been fit to eat .
1879		Cincinnati Dly Star (OH) 19 June 1/4: ‘Kerslash,’ dilly, buggy and occupants all went to grass in a heap.
1880		Topeka State Jrnl (Topeka, KS) 21 Aug. 4/3: He [...] let the whole thing fall o him, kerslash.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues IV 93/2: Kerslash, Kerslosh, Kerswosh.
1891		Wichita Daily Eagle (KS) 17 May 7/5: Kerslash! Biff! A dull thud and then silence.
1901		St Louis Republican (MO) 3 Mar. 50/4: Down comes the ding’d thing [...] kerslash, right on top o’ me.
1910		Desseret Eve. News (Salt Lake City, UT) 16 Sept. 5/6: Each slider slid ‘kerslash’ into eight feet of water at the bottom of the descent.
1917		Burlington Weekly Free Press (VT) 29 Nov. 10/2: I’ve heard our forbears further back / Would take a sickle and —kerslash / The corn fell right and left, kerwhack.
1920		Jrnl. Gaz. (Mattoon, IL) 25 oct. 4/2: [advert] Kersmash, Kerslash goes the high prices. Our two leading wholesale tailors have cut prices almost to ‘dead-center’.

(US) an onomat. term indicating movement at speed.

1851

T.A. Burke Polly Peasblossom’s Wedding 52: Thar was one of the etarnalest whollopin’ bars cummin crack, crack, through the cane, an’ kerslesh over the creek, an’ stopped right plumb slap up whar Ike’s gun was.

an onomat. term indicating movement through a liquid or occas. soft substance, or the falling of a solid object into such a substance.

1843		W.T. Thompson Major Jones’s Courtship (1872) 105: The fust thing he knowed, kerslosh he went, rite into a big tub mor’n half full of cold water.
1843		R. Carlton New Purchase I 268: In he splash’d kerslush, like a hurt buffalo bull.
1848		W.T. Thompson Major Jones’s Sketches of Travel 64: I jerked the ladel, what was already runnin’ over, towards the middle spout, when kerslosh went the water all over my feet.
1848		J.R. Lowell Biglow Papers (1880) 92: The kiver-hinge-pin bein’ lost, tea-leaves an’ tea an’ kiver! / ’ould all come down kerswosh! ez though the dam broke in a river.
1851		‘How Mike Hooter Came Very Near “Wolloping” Arch Coony’ in T.A. Burke Polly Peablossom’s Wedding 152: The fust thing I know’d I went kerswash into the drink!
1851		J.J. Hooper Tales of Alabama 95: [There was] the durndest ca-slosh on t’other side o’ the horse, that you ever heered!
1854		M.J. Holmes Tempest and Sunshine 2: For a spell you can get on right smart, but then, again, you’ll go in co-slush!
1866		C.H. Smith Bill Arp 129: I found a gully at last, and I rolld in kersplosh, for it was about two feet in mud and water.
1875		Highland Wkly News (Hillsboro, OH) 28 Jan. 3/2: Bill was kerryin’ a bucket of dirt to the crick, an’ just ez he got there his foot slipped in, an’ he went kerslosh.
1882		G.A. Sala in Living London (1883) Mar. 78: Finally there is ‘kerwosh,’ which occurs in his Excellency the American Minister’s line: ‘They all come down kerwosh! ez tho’ the dam broke into a river.’.
1882		Sacramento Daily-record Union (CA) 9 Oct. 1/7: Some run, some backed into the creek ker-slosh.
1888		Hocking Sentinel (Logan, OH) 17 May 3/4: His feet flew from under him, letting his body fall with a dull, sickening kerslush into the smeary depths of a large kettle of quince butter.
1890		Anaconda Standard (Mont.) 16 Jan. 6/1: Up comes there ’ere fish clean out o’ the water an’ back agin kerslosh.
1895		L.A. Times 26 Jan. 9/1: The ride from the city [...] during such weather [...] behind a single horse which makes a steady ‘ker-splosh’ through the ankle deep mud.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues IV 93/2: Kerslash, Kerslosh, Kerswosh.
1899		Anderson Intelligencer (Anderson Court Hse, SC) 11 Oct. 7/1: he peered ahead through the rain, which was now coming down ‘kersplosh’.
1900		Valentine Democrat (NE) 13 Sept. 7/4: ‘Kerslosh’ went the bucket in the chill water.
1908		L.W. Payne Jr ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:iv 326: ker-choo, -chug [...] ker-slam, ker-slap, ker-slosh, adv. Imitative of the sound made by something falling precipitously into water; also violently, rapidly, precisely, exactly.
1909		Sun (NY) 1 Aug. 15/3: Then suddenly ‘bang!’ like a gun it went and ‘kersplosh’ it come.
1911		News-Herald (Hillsboro, OH) 28 Dec. 6/2: I [...] knocked him plum off his hoss down ther bank, kerslush inter ther water.
1915		C.J. Dennis ‘The Kid’ Songs of a Sentimental Bloke 105: An’ then, I seen a great big drop roll down / An’ fall – kersplosh!-fair on ’is nibs’s crown.
1918		El Paso Herald (TX) 24 Apr. 6/1: Let us [...] wade in the gore, kerslosh, up to our waists and shoulders.
1924		G.H. Lawson Dict. of Aus. Words And Terms 🌐 KERSPLOSH—To fall heavily.
1939		Cinxcinnati Enquirer (OH) 16 July sect. 3 2: [picture caption] kersplosh is the watchward at Cincinnati’s pools these days.
1949		Hartford Courant (CT) 9 Jan. Mag. 8/5: Kersplash! The canoe rolled over as I leaned to net the fish.
1950		Sydney Morn. Herald 29 Jan. Playtime 1/5: Ker-Splosh! The soft peach went all over Sally.
1968		D. O’Grady A Bottle of Sandwiches 85: Plonk—ker-splosh— straight in. Disappeared.
1976		News-Press (Fort Myers, FL) 23 Oct. 13/1: Kersplosh...schlopp...yechhhhh! You’ve heard of mudpacks for beautiful faces?
1988		Northwest Herald (Woodstock, IL) 23 Feb. 23/1: Kersplosh! The unsuspecting foot goes in right up to its ankle.
1991		Guardian 16 Aug. 19/1: Kersplosh into the briny.
2000		Orlando Seninel (FL) 1 Oct. Orange Extra 1/2: Kersplosh! The first time Ken Kroeber tried out his invention, he sank his boat.

(US) an onomat. term indicating a sudden collapse.

1845		Jeffersonian (Stroudberg, PA) 6 Nov. 1/5: All out of doors should [...] slide down the greased plank of ancestral delinquency kerp-lump in the broad Savannars.
1856		Fayetteville Obs. (TN) 5 June 4/2: An’ throwed the bluddy British lion / Ker-slump upon his knees.
1869		Charleston Dly News (SC) 3 July 3/3: [The] American eagle that flowed across the seas., / And brought the British lion kerslump upon his knees.
1879		Wilkes-Barre Semi-Wkly Record (PA) 26 July 3/5: ‘Kerslump,’ a boy in the water.
1888		Brooklyn Dly Eagle (NY) 18 Mar. 6/2: The head had fallen kerslump upon the floor.
1897		Brooklyn Life (NY) 4 Dec. 22/1: Clutching the ball with both hands, I landed kerslump upon my elbows.
1907		N.Y. Times 9 Mar. 8/7: Oh, the things that we said, and the sighs that were shed, / As the points fell ker-slump to the bottom.
1912		L.A. Times 5 Oct. 20/1: The ‘various parties’ may go kerslump into the river if they do not look a little out.
1925		Advocate-Messenger (Danville, KY) 20 June 4/7: [advert] When your feelings are ging Kerflunk and the whole days is going Kerslump, just get a saucer of Lampton’s good ice cream.
1939		Rochester Democrat (NY) 23 Apr. 18A/3: Him try to run or maybe jump, / And tumble in a heap, kerslump.

an onomat. term indicating a sudden movement.

1855		Oregon Weekly Times 12 May n.p.: Ker-slung ! he went into the kreek, and I seed the water fly.
1879		Morristown Gaz. (TN) 30 Apr. 1/2: She would rise and come down with a fearful ker-slunge; her feet flying up.
1879		Yorkville Enquirer (SC) 27 Nov. 1/2: ‘Kerslunge intu the crick he went’.

an onomat. term indicating a sudden movement or a sharp blow.

1899		Wrexham Advertiser 18 Nov. 3/5: He’s [i.e. John Bull] glad to tread a peaceful track / Till others hit him fist, ker-smack!
1945		Democrat 31 May 2/1: The operators [...] are coming over to Clarke County and sink a well right kersmack in the middle of it [DA].

an onomat. term indicating a sudden crash or collision.

1844		‘Jonathan Slick’ High Life in N.Y. II 63: It was lucky the curtain went down ca-smash as it did.
c.1850		F.M. Whitcher Widow Bedott Papers (1883) 26: I s’pose ’twouldent a killed him if it hadent a ben for his comin’ kersmash onto a jug.
1865		M.L. Byrn Adventures of Fudge Fumble 79: we all went co-smash, rug, chug, changle, over to the bottom of the stairs.
1876		Bristol Mercury 12 Feb. 6/2: One of ’em allus falls kersmash on de sidewalk.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Feb. 24/4: At the Melbourne A.N.A. sports on Friday night, when a push was going Sheol for hides in a lightning heat, ker-smash went a batch of competitors at a bad end, and for half a second the air was full of crumpled riders and crippled machines and tyres and spokes.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 162/1: ‘Ker’ is also frequently used before words implying movement, as kersmash, kerbang, kerash (crash), kerflummux, kerslap.
1920		Jrnl. Gaz. (Mattoon, IL) 25 oct. 4/2: [advert] Kersmash, Kerslash goes the high prices. Our two leading wholesale tailors have cut prices almost to ‘dead-center’.
1923		Dundee Courier 11 Jan. 4/2: ’Tis said before the fall of Rome the family went kersmash, / that wife wouldn’t stay at home to cook the spuds and hash.
1992		S. King Gerald’s Game (1993) 292: Same old ker-smash.

(US) an onomat. term indicating a suddent blow.

1920

A. Baer Speaking of Weddings 6 Aug. [synd. col.] They get wedded in a shooting gallery [...] Bang, bang, bang! Zowie! Kersock!

an onomat. term indicating a fall into liquid.

1842		Asheville Messenger (NC) 30 Sept. 3/4: But soon he slips, and then ker-souse, / His head and shoulders goes in.
1852		Knickerbocker (N.Y.) xxxix Jan. 109: Here lies John Bean, who from a house / Into a cistern fell ker-souse.
1854		T. Haliburton Americans at Home I 278: The dug-out hadn’t more’n leaped six lengths from the bank afore — sip — chug — co-souse I went .
1861		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 5 Apr. 3/1: A body is said to go [...] ‘Kesouse,’ or ‘cachunk’ into water.
1874		Troy Herald (Troy, MO) 11 Feb. 2/5: All at once ‘kersouse’[the child] goes into a mudhole.
1885		Eve. Gaz. Pittston, PA) 29 Aug. 3/2: Sam went kersouse into the cistern.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1906		Buffalo Commercial (NY) 16 Feb. 5/3: The kick of the gun knocked the man kersouse into the lake.
1919		Eve. Public Ledger (Phila., PA) 24 July 22/8: Peggy and Billy went kersouse into the water.
1926		Orlando Sentinel (FL) 10 Apr. 8/1: Once more he went kersouse! into the pool.
1930		Lansing State Jrnl (MI) 26 Aug. 2/6: It went down with a kersouse! or sound to that effect.

an onomat. term indicating a fall into liquid.

1852		Brooklyn Dly Eagle (NY) 24 Aug. 4/1: Tumble ober mill-dam, / Come down kersplash.
1875		Chicago Trib. 26 Mar. 8/4: The words used to describe certain conditions are very numerous , and much more forcible than elegant [...] kersplash, kerflop, kerflummux, kerflounder kerscrush, kersplit, etc .
1883		J.C. Harris Uncle Remus (2002) 187: He’d foller alter, en slide down inter de water — kersplash!
1892		Nebraska State Jrnl (Lincoln, NE) 28 July 4/3: Let the rain come down ker-splash.
1907		Western Field mag. 650: He trips an’ goes in among ther float ice kersplash!
1913		Overland Monthly (CA) LXI 261: He [...] clutched at the air with a convulsive movement, and kersplash into the grass and weeds and scummy water [he] went.
1935		H.G. Wells Things to Come 96: Can I go when I grow up? And see the other side of the moon! And plump back ker-splosh! into the sea!
1959		M. Gilbert Blood and Judgment 59: The boat hit the surface with a solid ker-splash.
1979		B. Peet Hubert’s Hair-Raising Adventure 2: He leaped in kersplash! with a shower of bubbles.
1983		L. Rooke Shakespeare’s Dog 109: I went dog-eagled off cliff and out over water to land splat and kersplash.
2004		W.C. Lichfield Bear Stories 22: Kersplash! He hit the edge of the lake in about fifty feet of water.

an onomat. term indicating a fall onto a soft surface, esp. with concomitant mess, e.g. a stunt-man’s dive into a stall of soft fruit and vegetables.

1989		H. Harrison Bill [...] on the Planet of Robot Slaves (1991) 30: Ker-splat! went the space tug.
1999		Guardian 18 May 🌐 Bang! Crash! Kersplat! The sound of brandished zimmer frames and the communal tea tray being hurled across the patio was echoing around the Old Trafford OAP’s home today.
2014		Observer 13 Apr. 7/4: Threats of violence [...] can be leavened if made cartoonish with ‘biff,’ ‘blam,’ [and] ‘kersplat’.

(US) an onomat. term indicating a fall or flop.

1854		Nashville Union & American (TN) 18 May 2/3: Sure enough cawhallop they came together, and slap-dash the whole on ’em fell flat [...] on the floor.
1856		Knickerbocker (N.Y.) xlviii (Dec.) 616: A dainty pretty face at my elbow burst into tears, and fell down ker-swallop, back on the cushions.
1912		Eve. World (NY) 3 Apr. n.p.: The two little French girls went ker-whallop down into the terrible pond.
1936		St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 20 July 28/7: Cachunk [...] variants are cashwash, cawhalux, chewallop, casouse, cathump, katouse [...] kelumpus, kerswallop, kerplinkety-plump and kerblam.
1943		Bayler & Carnes Last Man Off Wake Island 300: Kerwallop on the ground.

an onomat. term indicating a collision or crash, esp. of one object falling on top of another.

1844		‘Jonathan Slick’ High Life in N.Y. II 67: It [a posy] fell ca-swash right down to Miss Elssler’s feet.
a.1852		Traits of Amer. Humour 59: The first thing I knowed, I went kerswash into the drink [F&H].
1875		Orangeburg News (SC) 2 Jan. 1/4: The venerable man cum down on the floor kerswash!
1887		Iola Register (KS) 19 Aug. 3/3: He jest tumbled plum over backwards, ’n kep rollin’ on down till he landed kerswash into a deep hole.
1897		Houston Daily Post (TX) 19 Dec. 21/5: In almost the twinkling of an eye the sled [...] went ‘kerswash’ up against a big metal gate.
1904		Eve. World (NY) 12 Jan. 13/2: The old kind, when hit, went down ker-swash, and the new kind goes down ker-chug.

an onomat. term indicating a fall into liquid.

1859

Harper’s Mag. 318/2: In his eagerness to grasp a magnificent lily, [he] was plunged ‘ker swop!’ [...] to the muddy bottom of the lake [DA].

an onomat. term indicating the dull noise of a solid object landing on a solid surface.

1973		Arizona Dly Star (Tucson, AZ) 6 Apr. 68/6: In bad weather Tucson residents go kerthud into endless chuckholes and in better weather they go ker-bump over these same raised chuckholes.
2002		Cirrocco Cirrocco.com 20 Aug. 🌐 ‘So, how did this place get the name Bridgestone?’ *BUMPITY BUMP BUMP BUMPITY BUMP BUMP**KERTHUD** ‘[...] I say it’s because they took a stone bridge, hacked it into huge chunks and used it to ‘pave’ the road.’ [...] *THUD BUMP THUD KERTHUD THUD BUMPITY*.

an onomat. term indicating a sudden dull noise.

1854		South-Western (Shreveport, LA) 8 Nov. 1/5: I jumped away with a shreek [sic], and then fell kerthump.
1877		Union-Leader (Wilkes-Barre, PA) 22 Mar. 1/2: [The limb] broke with him an’ let him down kerthump to the ground.
1887		E. Eggleston Graysons 92: [...] head up an’ never ketchin’ sight ’va stump tell he ’s fell over it, kerthump, head over heels.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues IV 93/2: Kerthump.
1907		Holt Co. Sentinel (Oregon, MO) 31 May 6/2: The elephant [...] bangs right on through, kerthump, into the hole.
1917		Oakland Trib. (CA) 3 Dec. 5/4: He came down hard, ker-thump.
1926		L.A. Times 5 Sept. 21/4: Bump, bump, she fell and rolled, thump, thump, kerthump.
1939		Star-Trib. (MN) 9 Sept. 13/2: He heard a loud ker-thump. [...] there was Kirk flat on his back and out colder than a blonde’s heart.
1949		Tennessean (Nashville, TN) 13 Feb. 16/4: The senators sat down, kerthump.
1952		Detroit Free Press (MI) 13 Oct. 40: [pic. caption] One enthusiastic miss tossed her ‘stick’ too far. It came down ‘ker-thump’ on the head of an unlucky bandsman.
1966		Charleston Dly Mail (WV) 10 Feb. 9/6: [pic. caption] Kerthump! One motorist said it felt like he bounced off the river bottom.
1977		News-Press (Fort Myers, FL) 26 July 20/2: Everyone was sitting around [...] until they heard things upstairs going ker-thump.
1987		L.A. Times 2 Apr. part 1 2/6: The eagle’s lunch — either a cod or a salmon — landed [...] with a loud ker-thump.
1999–2002		R. Pickard ‘Romance at Zelbit’s Diner’ Death Quaker’s Realm 🌐 Zed’s small green dot heart went kerthump-kerthump.

an onomat. term indicating an exclamation or sudden shock.

1926		‘Ford Madox Ford’ Man Could Stand Up 164: And . . . Kerumph . . . the wagons of coal would fly over until we recalled our planes and all went to sleep.
1999		Racecar.co.uk 🌐 LAMBORGHINI DIABLO [...] It starts with a ‘kerumph’ as the twelve cylinders fire.
2002		UltraM2000 ‘Cadet Hoshi’, GProject 🌐 Hoshi finally screwed up enough courage to peek through her fingers. She winced; Strafe was taking quite a beating. ‘I can’t look,’ she groaned softly. ‘WAAAAAAAAARRRRGHHH!!!’ ‘Commander, DUCK!!!’ ‘OOF!’ KERUMP!!!

(US) an onomat. term indicating the sound of a slap or a box on the ear.

1859

Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (2nd edn) 73: I haven’t got no time before, cawhalux! someone took me on the right side o’ the head with a dratted big book.

see kerwoosh!

an onomat. term indicating the sound of a sudden blow.

1917		Burlington Wkly Free Press (VT) 29 Nov. 10/2: I’ve heard our forbears further back / Would take a sickle and —kerslash / The corn fell right and left, kerwhack.
1940		J. Archibald ‘No Place Like Homicide’ in Popular Detective Apr. 🌐 Kerwhacko! Willie sighed and sank down on his knees.

an onomat. term indicating noisy, stumbling, erratic progress.

1985

G.L. Cohen Studies in Sl. Pt 1 12: ker-whackety (questionnaire: Missouri) ‘He came down the road kerwhackety bang.’.

an onomat. term indicating the sound of a sudden collision.

1937		(con. WW1) E.C. Parsons Great Adventure 46: About four or five feet off the ground, the amateur eagle just let her drop ker-wham.
2002		Xlade Quicksilver ‘Assassins’ at Mdtas.com 🌐 Well, if she gets rid of you, and I get Switched again, then I guess the entire team goes kerwhammy cause your the only one who can fix me.

an onomat. term indicating the noise of a solid body falling onto a solid surface.

1846		Star & Banner (Gettysburg, PA) 24 July 1/5: Mrs Leftenant Libby [...] lost her balance and fell over [...] kerwhop.
1851		‘How Sally Hooter Got Snake-Bit’ in T.A. Burke Polly Peablossom’s Wedding 75: When I said jerk, he gin the whoppinest pull, and sent him kerwhop! about er mile an’ er feet!
1869		Detroit Free Press (MI) 27 Dec. 3/5: He come down ker-whop, about ten feet from hwere we stood.
1872		‘Mark Twain’ Roughing It 442: Directly he came down ker-whop.
1875		M. Thompson Hoosier Mosaics 121: ‘Hoot-toot!’ says the whistle, and away lick-to-split went the train, and slashy-to-splashy, rattle-o-bangle, kewoppyty-whop, bump, thud down me and that ’ere conductor come onto a pile o’ wore out cross ties in the side ditch.
1885		J. Runciman Skippers and Shellbacks 85: They hoists him over and lets him go ker-whop.
1890		C.D. Hickham ‘On His Geranium’ 🎵 His parachute went wrong – oh my, And down he came ker-whop. On his geranium.
1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 169: Here’s where the last of the Mohegans gets theirs, in the neck, ker-whop!
1920		Wichita Beacon (KS) 18 Feb. 1/5: ‘Kerwhop!’ And monroe’s bag of prunes hit the bandit a wicked blow on the head.
1938		J. Archibald ‘Bird Cagey’ in Popular Detective Jan. 🌐 ‘Oh ye-e-e-a-a-a-ah? Well, here’s what I’ll do, you—’ Kerwhop!
1947		Muncie Eve. Press (IN) 4 Oct. 16/2: They were ready to give up when kerwhop-boom came an explosion.
1953		Alley Oop 12 Jan. [synd. cartoon] Kerwhop! and I’m four thousand years younger.
1969		Times (Shreveport, LA) 16 Aug. 11/2: In another solo, he goes — kerwhop! — into ten 300-pound blocks of ice.
1971		Detroit Free Press (MI) 16 Sept. 52/1: For the first week or so [...] they kept banging into each other, ker-whop .
1985		Detroit Free Press (MI) 3 Feb. 19/1: It [i.e. a newspaper] recently hauled off and slugged General Motors right in the kisser, ker-whop.

an onomat. term indicating speedy movement.

1878		Fife Herald 28 Nov. 3/6: She couldn’t keep her mouth shut [...] kerwash — she’d swallow a whole wave.
1897		For Worth Gaz. (TX) 12 Sept. 2/5: She’d have some fool remark to make, when — kerwash — she’d swallow a whole wave.
1905		N.Y. Tribune 4 June 29/3: The ostrich thing came whoop! over the stone wall, ker-wish across the road, ker-wow over the opposite stone wall.
1908		Magnet I 1: ‘Ker-woosh!’ ejaculated the junior, as he sprawled on the floor over Harry Wharton’s legs. ‘What’s that in the way?’.
1953		Chicago Trib. 14 Nov. 21/1: Plunk! Gavilan’s left shot to Bratton’s badly swollen eyes. Kerwash! I would land on his nose . . . Kerbump! it would crash against johnny’s jaw.
1965		J.P. Carstairs Concrete Kimono 123: There was a nasty deafening kerwhoosh! as something below blew up.
2001		Tiffany Flowers ‘How Dare She?’ Samandjack.net 🌐 Sam couldn’t help but smile when Hailey jumped back from the ramp, when the kerwhoosh suddenly came through the Stargate and snapped back, forming the event horizon.