To hit someone or something hard, or to defeat them completely in a game or competition.
Origin uncertain, possibly from Yiddish 'klop' (to strike) or imitative in nature. Became common in American English by the early 1900s as slang for hitting or beating soundly.
The word perfectly captures the sound and force of a heavy blow—say it out loud and you can almost hear the impact! It's one of those onomatopoetic words that English borrowed from casual speech rather than inventing formally.
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