Library / English Dictionary

PLUMP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The sound of a sudden heavy fall

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("plump" is a kind of...):

noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))

Derivation:

plump (drop sharply)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sufficiently fat so as to have a pleasing fullness of figure

Example:

pleasingly plump

Synonyms:

chubby; embonpoint; plump

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

fat (having an (over)abundance of flesh)

Derivation:

plumpness (the bodily property of being well rounded)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give support (to) or make a choice (of) one out of a group or number

Example:

I plumped for the losing candidates

Synonyms:

go; plump

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "plump" is one way to...):

choose; pick out; select; take (pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make fat or plump

Example:

We will plump out that poor starving child

Synonyms:

fat; fatten; fatten out; fatten up; fill out; flesh out; plump; plump out

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "plump" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

"Plump" entails doing...:

feed; give (give food to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Set (something or oneself) down with or as if with a noise

Example:

He planked himself into the sofa

Synonyms:

flump; plank; plonk; plop; plump; plump down; plunk; plunk down

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "plump" is one way to...):

place down; put down; set down (cause to sit or seat or be in a settled position or place)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 4

Meaning:

Drop sharply

Example:

The stock market plummeted

Synonyms:

plummet; plump

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "plump" is one way to...):

drop (to fall vertically)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sentence example:

The stock market is going to plump

Derivation:

plump (the sound of a sudden heavy fall)

 IV. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Straight down especially heavily or abruptly

Example:

we dropped the rock plump into the water

Classified under:

Adverbs

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Credits

 Context examples: 

His age may have been nearer forty than thirty, but his cheeks were so ruddy and his eyes so merry that he still conveyed the impression of a plump and mischievous boy.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The commissionaire plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I know it was a good squeeze, because, being very plump, whenever she made any little exertion after she was dressed, some of the buttons on the back of her gown flew off.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Yet it was Monsieur Rudin and not his dog who looked plumper for a week to come.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is characterized by the presence of plump spindle cells, and collagenous stroma formation.

(Fibromatosis Colli, NCI Thesaurus)

Absence of pronounced fibrovascular stroma, as well as more "plump" shape of epithelial cells, may be the reason for different appearance of mouse adenomas, as compared to their human counterparts.

(Adenoma of the Mouse Pulmonary System, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

This was a full-blown, very plump damsel, fair as waxwork, with handsome and regular features, languishing blue eyes, and ringleted yellow hair.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She was short, plump, and fair, with a fine bloom, blue eyes, light hair, regular features, and a look of great sweetness, and, before the end of the evening, Emma was as much pleased with her manners as her person, and quite determined to continue the acquaintance.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The plump young man led us to a spot where the top of one of the wooden rails had been cracked.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I could hear as well as see that brandy-faced rascal Israel Hands plumping down a round-shot on the deck.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)