plump
pronunciation
How to pronounce plump in British English:
UK [plʌmp]
How to pronounce plump in American English:
US [plʌmp]
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- Noun:
- the sound of a sudden heavy fall
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- Verb:
- drop sharply
- set (something or oneself) down with or as if with a noise
- make fat or plump
- give support (to) or make a choice (of) one out of a group or number
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- Adjective:
- euphemisms for slightly fat
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- Adverb:
- straight down especially heavily or abruptly
Word Origin
- plump (adj.)
- late 15c., "blunt, dull" (in manners), from Dutch plomp "blunt, thick, massive, stumpy," probably related to plompen "fall or drop heavily" (see plump (v.)). Meaning "fleshy, of rounded form" is from 1540s in English. Danish and Swedish plump "rude, coarse, clumsy" are from the Low German word and represent a different sense development.
- plump (v.1)
- c. 1300, "to fall or strike with a full impact," common Low German word, from or related to Middle Dutch and Dutch plompen, East Frisian plumpen, Middle Low German plumpen, probably more or less imitative of something hard striking something soft. Hence plump (n.) "a firm blow," in pugilism usually one to the stomach. To plump; to strike, or shoot. I'll give you a plump in the bread basket, or the victualling office; I'll give you a blow in the stomach. [Grose, "Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," London, 1785] Or, even if any of them should suspect me, I know how to bring myself off. It is but pretending to be affronted, stripping directly, challenging him to fight, and before he can be on his guard, hitting him a plump in the bread-basket, that shall make him throw up his accounts; and I'll engage he will have but very little stomach to accuse me after. ["The Reverie: or A Flight to the Paradise of Fools," London, 1763]
- plump (v.2)
- "to become plump," 1530s, from plump (adj.). Meaning "to plump (something) up, to cause to swell" is from 1530s. Related: Plumped; plumping.
Example
- 1. They sit plump and bursting with life , spilling over with the chaos of existence itself .
- 2. The onion sets should be plump and firm . Discard any that are soft or too small .
- 3. Genetics is one reason why women 's faces lose the slightly full , plump look , she said .
- 4. Boys were more likely to be too plump than girls were .
- 5. How long do youthink it will be before some celebrity appears on our tv screensshowing pictures of plump toddlers and beseeching us to help them fightfat ?