Skelped

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To strike sharply with a flat object or open hand; to reprimand or scold verbally; to move or walk quickly with a slap or smack sound
2. To hit or slap with force, often with a hand; to chastise or admonish someone; to proceed briskly making a slapping noise
3. To administer a spanking or sharp blow; to rebuke or criticize sternly; to tread or go swiftly producing a smacking sound

Etymology: "Skelped" is the past tense and past participle of "skelp," a Scots and northern English verb. It comes from Middle English "skelpen," which is probably imitative: the word seems built to sound like the slap or smack it describes. The noun "skelp," meaning a blow or slap, came later from the verb. The verb has kept its sense of a sharp smack across centuries, and the same idea stretched into a range of meanings. A spanking or hard blow is the core, but "skelp" also came to mean rebuking someone sternly, and to walk or run quickly so that the feet make a slapping sound on the ground. Each of these grows from the same noisy image of a hard strike.

Synonyms: hit, struck, smacked, slapped, whacked