wallop [ME] The original meaning of wallop was ‘to gallop ‘, and the Old French sources of gallop [E16th] and wallop, galoper and waloper, are related (see guard for ‘g’ and ‘w’ in French sources). It seems that there is something gratifying about the way wallop sounds that makes people use it in lively ways. The next sense to develop was ‘to boil violently’ [L16th], and then ‘to move in a heavy or clumsy way’ [E18th], and ‘to flop about, dangle, flap’ [E19th]. The modern sense, ‘to hit very hard’, also appeared in the early 19th century. See also codswallop.