Percuss Definition

pər-kŭs

percusses

verb

To rap gently and firmly, as in medical diagnosis.

Webster's New World

To strike; to hit; to knock; to deliver a blow to.

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

Wiktionary

(intransitive) To impact.

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

Wiktionary

(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.

Wiktionary

(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.

Wiktionary

Origin of Percuss

From Old French percussir, from Latin percussus, past participle of percutere (“to strike or pierce through"), from per (“through") + quatere (“ to shake, strike").

From Wiktionary
Latin percutere percuss- to strike hard per- per- quatere to strike kwēt- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition