Also 6 bangue. [First in 16th c.; perh. previously in north. dial. from Scand. Cf. ON. banga, OSw. bānga, to hammer; also LG. bangen, bangeln to strike, beat, Ger. bengel cudgel.]
I. 1. trans. To strike violently with a resounding blow; to thump, thrash.
c. 1550[?]. Rob. Hood (Ritson), ix. 95. Either yield to me the daie, Or I will bang thy back and sides.
1570. Levins, Manip., /23. To bangue, fustigare.
1593. Nashe, 4 Lett. Confut., 37. A bigge fat lusty wench it is, and hath an arme like an Amazon, and will bang the abhominationly if euer she catch thee.
1675. Cotton, Scoffer Scoft, 44. With my Battoon I’le bang his sconce.
1794. Burns, Wks., 133. Oh aye my wife she dang me, And aft my wife did bang me.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, V. 494. Like an iron-clanging anvil bang’d With hammers.
2. Hence, in various const., expressing: a. violent action producing loud noise, as To bang off (a gun, music on a piano, etc.), and esp. To bang (a door) = to shut it violently, to slam; or b. to drive or knock with violence.
a. 1787. Beckford, Italy, II. 136. A most complicated sonata, banged off on the chimes.
1814. Scott, Wav., III. 238. Twa unlucky red-coats … banged off a gun at him.
1816. Miss Austen, Emma, I. i. 5. She always turns the lock of the door the right way and never bangs it.
1878. Black, Green Past., xxxiv. 277. The door was banged to.
b. 1877. Daily News, 1 Nov., 6/2. This is what is now being banged into the heads that have planned and have attempted to carry out this campaign.
3. intr. To strike violently or noisily; to bump or thump. Of a door: To close with a loud report, to slam.
1713. Guardian, No. 143 (1756), II. 234. It banged against his calf and jarred upon his right heel.
1860. W. Collins, Wom. White, I. vii. 31. Taking great pains not to let the doors bang.
1883. V. Stuart, Egypt, 302. Our boats were banging against the sides of the Era, making sleep impossible.
4. Hence: To make a violent noise, e.g., by the discharge of fire-arms.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxxvi. 136. The watch on deck were banging away at the guns every few minutes.
II. 5. trans. To beat violently, knock about; to thrash or drub, defeat, worst. lit. and fig.
1604. Shaks., Oth., II. i. 21. The desperate Tempest hath so bang’d the Turkes, That their designement halts.
1651. Lilly, Chas. I. (1774), 246. He was presently after well banged by Essex.
1784. Cowper, Wks. (1876), 183. You are a clergyman, and I have banged your order.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., 80. It’s not easy to bang the soldier with his bandoleers.
† b. To bang it out or about: to come to blows, fight it out. Obs.
c. 1600. Rob. Hood (Ritson), xvii. 85. With a but of sack we will bang it about, To see who wins the day.
1622. Heylin, Cosmogr., I. (1682), 282. If any two were displeased, they expected no law, but bang’d it out bravely.
c. Comm. To beat down, overwhelm.
1884. Marten & Christoph. Monthly Circ., 31 March. Speculators for the fall are as usual taking the opportunity to bang the market by heavy sales.
6. colloq. To ‘beat,’ surpass, excel, outdo.
1808. Cumbrian Ball., iv. 13. Cocker Wully lap bawk-heet … But Tamer in her stockin feet, She bang’d him out and out.
1837. Dickens, in Life, II. i. 34. The next Pickwick will bang all the others.
Mod. Sc. That bangs a’ I e’er met wi’.
Irish Provb. This bangs Bannagher.
III. 7. intr. (dial.) To throw oneself or spring with a sudden impetuous movement, to dash, to bounce.
1795. H. Macneill, Will & Jean. Up he bang’d; and, sair afflicted, Sad and silent took the road.
1813. Examiner, 17 Jan., 43/1. The mob, which appeared to be numerous, called out ‘Bang up lads, in with you, keep close.’
1813. Mar. Edgeworth, Patron., II. xxx. 257. English Clay left his D. T. O. … and banged down to Clay-hall.
b. trans. To throw with sudden violence.
1768. Ross, Helenore, 143 (Jam.). Then I’ll bang out my beggar dish.
IV. 8. The verb stem is used adverbially with other verbs, esp. come, go, in the senses of: a. with a violent blow or shock; b. with a sudden and violent clap or explosive noise; c. all of a sudden (tout d’un coup), suddenly and abruptly, all at once, as in ‘to cut a thing bang off.’
a. 1841. Marryat, Poacher, xxviii. We came bang against one another.
1842. Sir T. Martin, in Fraser’s Mag., Dec., 652/1. Bang went my haunch against an obtrusive angle of my bed, in a way that left me groaning for the next half-hour.
b. 1855. O. W. Holmes, Poems, 139. Bang went the magazine!
1855. Browning, Up in Villa, Wks. 1863, I. 53. Bang, whang, whang goes the drum.
1882. E. O’Donovan, Merv Oasis, I. 311. Bang, came another blank shot.
c. 1795. H. Macneill, Will & Jean, 1. Bang! cam in Mat Smith and’s brither.
Mod. (Scotchman loquitur) ‘Ye canna be in London an hour, when bang goes saxpence!’
9. Comb. with sb. as obj., bang-beggar, a strong staff (Sc.), a constable or beadle (dial.); † bang-pitcher, a drunkard; bang-straw (dial.), a thresher.
1865. E. Waugh, Barrel Org., 29. Owd Pudge, th’ bang-beggar, coom runnin’ into th’ pew.
1639. J. Clarke, Parœmiologia, 102. A notable bang-pitcher, Silenus alter.
