Dictionary

plump en · ADJ · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /plʌmp/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English plump, plompe, a borrowing from Middle Dutch plomp or Middle Low German plump. Cognate with Saterland Frisian plump (“plump”).

Meanings

1. Having a full and rounded shape; chubby, somewhat overweight.
   • The god of wine did his plump clusters bring. 1651, Thomas Carew, To my friend G. N. from Wrest:
   • a plump baby; plump cheeks
   • My ideal is to be idle and to love a plump girl. 2015, Anton Chekhov, The Life and Genius of Anton Chekhov: Letters, Diary, Reminiscences and Biography: Assorted Collection of Autobiographical Writings of the Renowned Russian Author and Playwright of Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard, The Three Sisters and The Seagull, e-artnow, →ISBN:
   • He was a plump little man and we had been walking uphill at a pace—set by him—far too rapid for his short legs. He breathed stertorously, and half the drops which glimmered on his rotund face were not rain but sweat. 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 23, in Crime out of Mind:
2. Sudden and without reservation; blunt; direct; downright.
   • After the plump statement that the author was at Erceldoune and spake with Thomas. 1898, George Saintsbury, “XXXVII The Dullards That Men Are”, in A Short History of English Literature:
   • I've said so haven't I? Plump and plain. 1925, Stanley John Weyman, Queen's Folly:
   • We are averse to plump queries, but we are going to ask our readers a plain, simple question Did you ever see a paper y'clept "The Yankee Blade?" 1847, editorial staff, “The Yankee Blade”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 66:
3. Of a wine: giving the sensation of filling the mouth.
   • A plump wine, with an abundance of plum and berry characteristics and soft, round tannins. Easy to drink; ready on release. 1992, The Wine Spectator, volume 17, page 33:

Forms

Deriveds

plumpish · plumpage · plumpitude · plumptious · plumpkin · unplump · plumpness · plumpy · overplump · plumpie · plumptitude · plumply · plumping

Synonyms

round

Translations (70)

ota شیشمان (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · bg закръглен (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · is bústinn (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · fr rebondi (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · cy cnawdol (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · ar سمين (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · fr dodu (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · tr besili (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · hu molett (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · cs buclatý (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · az çağ (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · el αφράτος (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · fr replet (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · tr şişman (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · az toppuş (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · hy թմբլիկ (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · mi māretireti (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · th ท้วม (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · hi गुदगुदा (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · cs baculatý (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · fi pulska (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · ru пу́хленький (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · it cicciottello (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · cs boubelatý (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · ru по́лненький (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · ota سمیز (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · tr etli (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · cy llond ei chroen (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · el στρουμπουλός (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · az koppuş (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · tr balıketli (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · ca grassonet (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · ga méith (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · cmn 肥美 (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · fr potelé (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · de pummelig (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · ru пу́хлый (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · ru по́лный (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · ru окру́глый (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · fi pullea (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · az ətli-canlı (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · bg пухкав (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · te బలిసిన (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · la pinguis (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · mi makune (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · it robusto (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · cy llond eu croen (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · tr etli butlu (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · tr etine dolgun (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · ru то́лстый (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · th อวบ (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · eo dika (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · ug ئەتلىك (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · nrf potelé (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · tr dolgun (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · fa تپل (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · cs zakulacený (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · gl repoludo (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · ug سېمىز (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · pt rechonchudo (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · cy llond ei groen (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · cs zavalitý (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · az yoğun (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · tr yağlı (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · fi pyylevä (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · de mollig (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · az dolğun (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · tr semiz (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · cmn 豐滿 /丰满 (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby) · ru то́лстенький (Having a full and rounded shape, chubby)

plump en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /plʌmp/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English plump, plompe, a borrowing from Middle Dutch plomp or Middle Low German plump. Cognate with Saterland Frisian plump (“plump”).

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To grow plump; to swell out.
   • Her cheeks have plumped.
2. (transitive) To make plump; to fill (out) or support; often with up.
   • Although Miss Pross, through her long association with a French family, might have known as much of their language as of her own, if she had had a mind, she had no mind in that direction […] So her manner of marketing was to plump a noun-substantive at the head of a shopkeeper without any introduction in the nature of an article […] 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:
   • to plump oysters or scallops by placing them in fresh or brackish water
   • to plump up the hollowness of their history with improbable miracles 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
3. (intransitive) To give a plumper (kind of vote).
4. (transitive) To give (a vote), as a plumper.
5. (intransitive) To favor or decide in favor of.
   • A recent poll by the New York Times found that although most Brazilians plump for arch-rival Argentina as the team they most want to lose, the second-biggest group want Brazil itself to stumble. 2014, “Brazil in a nutshell”, in The Economist:

Forms

Deriveds

plump up · plump for

Translations (3)

cs nakynout (To grow plump) · cs zbaculatět (To grow plump) · cs zakulatit se (To grow plump)

plump en · ADV · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /plʌmp/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English plumpen, akin to Middle Dutch plompen, Middle Low German plumpen, German plumpsen.

Meanings

1. Directly; suddenly; perpendicularly.
   • I suppose then, that going plump on a flying whale with your sail set in a foggy squall is the height of a whaleman’s discretion? 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 49, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 253:

Translations (2)

cs ztěžka (suddenly or heavily) · cs prudce (suddenly or heavily)

plump en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /plʌmp/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English plumpen, akin to Middle Dutch plompen, Middle Low German plumpen, German plumpsen.

Meanings

1. The sound of a sudden heavy fall.
   • As she beheld her, poor Mrs. Mack's heart fluttered up to her mouth, and then dropped with a dreadful plump, into the pit of her stomach. 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

Forms

Deriveds

thunder-plump

Translations (1)

cs žuchnutí (sound of heavy fall)

plump en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /plʌmp/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English plumpen, akin to Middle Dutch plompen, Middle Low German plumpen, German plumpsen.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To cast or let drop (something) all at once, suddenly and heavily.
   • to plump a stone into water
2. (intransitive) To drop or fall suddenly or heavily, all at once.
   • September 24, 1712, The Spectator No. 492, letter from a prude Dulcissa plumps into a chair.

Forms

Deriveds

plump down

Synonyms

slump

Translations (5)

cs žuchnout sebou (to drop or fall suddenly or heavily) · cs svalit se (to drop or fall suddenly or heavily) · cs žuchnout (to drop or fall suddenly or heavily) · cs praštit sebou (to drop or fall suddenly or heavily) · bg пльосвам се (to drop or fall suddenly or heavily)

plump en · NOUN · etymology 3

Pronunciation

• /plʌmp/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English plump.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) A knot or cluster; a group; a crowd.
   • a plump of trees, fowls, or spears
   • To visit islands and the plumps of men. 1614–1615, Homer, “(please specify the book number)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume (please specify the book number), London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC:
2. (collective) A group of ducks or geese migrating, or sometimes other groups of birds.
   • On this account, the Kestrel is often seen in the winter months hovering near the farmyards, in hopes of making a successful dash among a plump of sparrows as they congregate over some fresh straw, or settle among the fowls for the purpose of picking up the grain which was intended for the poultry. 1831, John George Wood, The Illustrated Natural History: Birds. 1864, Routledge, Warne and Routledge, page 80:
   • What Descartes called res cogitans is not a defined res but a network, a swarm, a cloud, much like a plump of geese flying south or ants foraging around their woodlands. 2022, Martin Kornberger, Strategies for Distributed and Collective Action: Connecting the Dots, Oxford University Press, page 100:
   • A "plump" of ducks rose at the same time and took the route to the north in the wake of their noisier cousins 1893, Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Or, Life in the Woods, Houghton Miffler, page 483:
   • A great example of professionalism in aviation: on the afternoon of January 15, 2009, in the middle of wintertime, a big plump of geese were flying south, getting off of the strong cold weather. 2020, Jaime Fernandez, The Fascinating World of Aviation, Page Publishing:

Forms