Definition of "thumping"

They were a regular series of thumpings from the interior of the house, occasioned by the violent rocking of a cradle upon a stone floor, to which movement a feminine voice kept time by singing, in a vigorous gallopade[.]

1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 28

There was nothing to be seen, but he could hear loud thumpings and bumpings which seemed to come from the back of the house.

1941, Gladys Mitchell, When Last I Died

And in our times, in Philadelphia, there have been specimens of violent shruggings of the shoulders, and brachial twitches, and prodigious wry faces, and thumpings on the pews.

1824, William Craig Brownlee, A careful and free inquiry into the true nature and tendency of the religious principles of the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers

Grant's future has been the subject of rumour after rumour for much of the season and last week's horrific 5-0 thumping at Newcastle was the catalyst for another round of fevered speculation.

2011 January 11, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham”, in BBC‎