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To strike smartly; to strike upon or against; as, to percuss the chest in medical examination. Flame percussed by air giveth a noise. Bacon.

The act of percussing, or striking one body against another; forcible collision, esp. such as gives a sound or report. Sir I. Newton.

Striking against; percutient; as, percussive force.

back; hence, to reflect; to reverberate. Perceiving all the subjacent country, . . . to repercuss such a light as I could hardly look against. Evelyn.

of driving back, or the state of being driven back; reflection; reverberation; as, the repercussion of sound. Ever echoing back in endless repercussion. Hare.

Tending or able to repercuss; having the power of sending back; causing to reverberate. Ye repercussive rocks! repeat the sound. W. Pattison.

cles used in charging firearms and ordnance of all kinds; as powder, balls, shot, shells, percussion caps, rockets, etc.

cracker, a fire cracker of large size. -- Cannon lock, a device for firing a cannon by a percussion primer. -- Cannon metal. See Gun Metal. -- Cannon pinion, the pinion on the minute hand arbor of a watch or clock, which drives the hand but permits it to be moved in setting. -- Cannon proof, impenetrable by cannon…

A percussion cap. See under Percussion.

An instrument for applying a percussion cap to a gun or cartridge.

A small cup or shell, as of metal, for a percussion cap, cartridge, etc. Atrabiliary capsule. See under Atrabiliary. -- Glisson's capsule, a membranous envelope, entering the liver along with the portal vessels and insheathing the latter in their course through the organ. -- Suprarenal capsule, an organ of unknown fu…

Measurement of the heart, as by percussion or auscultation.

A machine for grinding or pulverizing by percussion.

An instrument of percussion, consisting either of a hollow cylinder, over each end of which is stretched a piece of skin or vellum, to be beaten with a stick; or of a metallic hemisphere (kettledrum) with a single piece of skin to be so beaten; the common instrument for marking time in martial music; one of the pair of…

A sound reflected from an opposing surface and repeated to the ear of a listener; repercussion of sound; repetition of a sound. The babbling echo mocks the hounds. Shak. The woods shall answer, and the echo ring. Pope.

An instrument for intensifying sounds produced by percussion of the thorax. Knight.

ected in a natural or artifical cavity, which is felt when it is subjected to pressure or percussion. Dunglison.

inates. Of these, mercuric fulminate, the most common, is used, mixed with niter, to fill percussion caps, charge cartridges, etc. -- Fulminic acid is made by the action of nitric acid on alcohol.

current. -- Friction fuze, a fuze which is ignited by the heat evolved by friction. -- Percussion fuze, a fuze in which the ignition is produced by a blow on some fulminating compound. -- Time fuze, a fuze adapted, either by its length or by the character of its composition, to burn a certain time before producing…

the lock of a gun, to ignite the charge. It was in common use before the introduction of percussion caps.