plump

See also: Plump

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plʌmp/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌmp

Etymology 1

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

Adjective

plump (comparative plumper or more plump, superlative plumpest or most plump)

1. Having a full and rounded shape; chubby, somewhat overweight.

   a plump baby; plump cheeks

   • 1651, Thomas Carew, To my friend G. N. from Wrest:

     The god of wine did his plump clusters bring.

   • 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:

     My ideal is to be idle and to love a plump girl.

   • 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 23, in Crime out of Mind:

     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.

2. Fat.
3. Sudden and without reservation; blunt; direct; downright.
   • 1898, George Saintsbury, “XXXVII The Dullards That Men Are”, in A Short History of English Literature:

     After the plump statement that the author was at Erceldoune and spake with Thomas.

   • 1925, Stanley John Weyman, Queen's Folly:

     I've said so haven't I? Plump and plain.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:obese

Antonyms

• See also Thesaurus:scrawny

Derived terms

• plumping
• plumply
• plumpness

Translations

Having a full and rounded shape, chubby

• Arabic: سمين
• Armenian: թմբլիկ (hy) (tʻmblik)
• Azerbaijani: çağ (az), dolğun, ətli-canlı, koppuş, toppuş, yoğun (az)
• Bulgarian: закръглен (bg) (zakrǎglen), пухкав (bg) (puhkav)
• Catalan: grassonet (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 豐滿／丰满 (zh) (fēngmǎn), 肥美 (zh) (féiměi)

• Czech: zavalitý, zakulacený m, boubelatý m, baculatý m
• Esperanto: dika (eo)
• Finnish: pyylevä (fi), pullea (fi), pulska (fi)
• French: dodu (fr) m, potelé (fr), rebondi (fr), replet (fr)
• Galician: repoludo (gl)
• German: mollig (de), pummelig (de)
• Greek: αφράτος (el) (afrátos), στρουμπουλός (el) (stroumpoulós)
• Hungarian: molett (hu)
• Icelandic: bústinn
• Irish: méith
• Italian: cicciottello m, robusto (it) m
• Latin: pinguis
• Maori: makune, māretireti
• Norman: potelé (Jersey)
• Ottoman Turkish: سمیز (semiz)
• Persian: تپل (fa) (topol)
• Portuguese: rechonchudo (pt)
• Russian: пу́хлый (ru) (púxlyj), пу́хленький (ru) (púxlenʹkij), по́лный (ru) (pólnyj), по́лненький (ru) (pólnenʹkij), то́лстый (ru) (tólstyj), то́лстенький (ru) (tólstenʹkij), окру́глый (ru) (okrúglyj)
• Spanish: rechoncho (es), rollizo (es), regordete
• Telugu: బలిసిన (te) (balisina)
• Thai: ท้วม (túuam)
• Welsh: llond ei groen m, llond ei chroen f, llond eu croen pl, cnawdol (cy)

Verb

plump (third-person singular simple present plumps, present participle plumping, simple past and past participle plumped)

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.

   to plump oysters or scallops by placing them in fresh or brackish water

   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):

     to plump up the hollowness of their history with improbable miracles

3. (transitive) To cast or let drop all at once, suddenly and heavily.

   to plump a stone into water

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:

     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 […]

4. (intransitive) To give a plumper (kind of vote).
5. (transitive) To give (a vote), as a plumper.
6. (intransitive) To favor or decide in favor of. [with for ‘something’]
   • 2014, “Brazil in a nutshell”, in The Economist:

     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.

Derived terms

• plump for
• plump up

 

Etymology 2

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

Verb

plump (third-person singular simple present plumps, present participle plumping, simple past and past participle plumped)

1. (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.

Derived terms

• plump down

 

Translations

To drop or fall suddenly or heavily

• Bulgarian: пльосвам се (pljosvam se)
• Czech: žuchnout (cs) pf, svalit se pf, žuchnout sebou pf, praštit sebou pf

Adverb

plump

1. Directly; suddenly; perpendicularly.
   • 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:

     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?

Noun

plump (plural plumps)

1. The sound of a sudden heavy fall.
   • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

     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.

Derived terms

• thunder-plump

 

Etymology 3

From Middle English plump.

Noun

plump (plural plumps)

1. (obsolete) A knot or cluster; a group; a crowd.

   a plump of trees, fowls, or spears

   • 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:

     To visit islands and the plumps of men.

     The spelling has been modernized.

2. A group of geese flying close together.

References

• “plump”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plʊmp/

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

plump (strong nominative masculine singular plumper, comparative plumper, superlative am plumpsten or (uncommon) am plumpesten)

1. clumsy (movement of person or animal that is often dumpy)
2. clumsy; crude; brazen (of a trick or strategy)

   ein plumper Versuch ― a crude attempt

3. squat, stumpy

Declension

Positive forms of plump

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist plump	sie ist plump	es ist plump	sie sind plump
strong declension (without article)	nominative	plumper	plumpe	plumpes	plumpe
	genitive	plumpen	plumper	plumpen	plumper
	dative	plumpem	plumper	plumpem	plumpen
	accusative	plumpen	plumpe	plumpes	plumpe
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der plumpe	die plumpe	das plumpe	die plumpen
	genitive	des plumpen	der plumpen	des plumpen	der plumpen
	dative	dem plumpen	der plumpen	dem plumpen	den plumpen
	accusative	den plumpen	die plumpe	das plumpe	die plumpen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein plumper	eine plumpe	ein plumpes	(keine) plumpen
	genitive	eines plumpen	einer plumpen	eines plumpen	(keiner) plumpen
	dative	einem plumpen	einer plumpen	einem plumpen	(keinen) plumpen
	accusative	einen plumpen	eine plumpe	ein plumpes	(keine) plumpen

Comparative forms of plump

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist plumper	sie ist plumper	es ist plumper	sie sind plumper
strong declension (without article)	nominative	plumperer	plumpere	plumperes	plumpere
	genitive	plumperen	plumperer	plumperen	plumperer
	dative	plumperem	plumperer	plumperem	plumperen
	accusative	plumperen	plumpere	plumperes	plumpere
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der plumpere	die plumpere	das plumpere	die plumperen
	genitive	des plumperen	der plumperen	des plumperen	der plumperen
	dative	dem plumperen	der plumperen	dem plumperen	den plumperen
	accusative	den plumperen	die plumpere	das plumpere	die plumperen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein plumperer	eine plumpere	ein plumperes	(keine) plumperen
	genitive	eines plumperen	einer plumperen	eines plumperen	(keiner) plumperen
	dative	einem plumperen	einer plumperen	einem plumperen	(keinen) plumperen
	accusative	einen plumperen	eine plumpere	ein plumperes	(keine) plumperen

Superlative forms of plump

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist am plumpsten er ist am plumpesten1	sie ist am plumpsten sie ist am plumpesten1	es ist am plumpsten es ist am plumpesten1	sie sind am plumpsten sie sind am plumpesten1
strong declension (without article)	nominative	plumpster plumpester1	plumpste plumpeste1	plumpstes plumpestes1	plumpste plumpeste1
	genitive	plumpsten plumpesten1	plumpster plumpester1	plumpsten plumpesten1	plumpster plumpester1
	dative	plumpstem plumpestem1	plumpster plumpester1	plumpstem plumpestem1	plumpsten plumpesten1
	accusative	plumpsten plumpesten1	plumpste plumpeste1	plumpstes plumpestes1	plumpste plumpeste1
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der plumpste der plumpeste1	die plumpste die plumpeste1	das plumpste das plumpeste1	die plumpsten die plumpesten1
	genitive	des plumpsten des plumpesten1	der plumpsten der plumpesten1	des plumpsten des plumpesten1	der plumpsten der plumpesten1
	dative	dem plumpsten dem plumpesten1	der plumpsten der plumpesten1	dem plumpsten dem plumpesten1	den plumpsten den plumpesten1
	accusative	den plumpsten den plumpesten1	die plumpste die plumpeste1	das plumpste das plumpeste1	die plumpsten die plumpesten1
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein plumpster ein plumpester1	eine plumpste eine plumpeste1	ein plumpstes ein plumpestes1	(keine) plumpsten (keine) plumpesten1
	genitive	eines plumpsten eines plumpesten1	einer plumpsten einer plumpesten1	eines plumpsten eines plumpesten1	(keiner) plumpsten (keiner) plumpesten1
	dative	einem plumpsten einem plumpesten1	einer plumpsten einer plumpesten1	einem plumpsten einem plumpesten1	(keinen) plumpsten (keinen) plumpesten1
	accusative	einen plumpsten einen plumpesten1	eine plumpste eine plumpeste1	ein plumpstes ein plumpestes1	(keine) plumpsten (keine) plumpesten1

¹Uncommon.

Further reading

• “plump” in Duden online
• “plump” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Irish

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• (Cois Fharraige) IPA^(key): /pˠl̪ˠʊmˠpˠ/

Noun

plump f (genitive singular plumpa, nominative plural plumpanna)

1. Cois Fharraige form of plimp

Declension

Declension of plump (third declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative plump plumpanna vocative a phlump a phlumpanna genitive plumpa plumpanna dative plump plumpanna forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an phlump na plumpanna genitive na plumpa na bplumpanna dative leis an bplump don phlump leis na plumpanna

Derived terms

• plumpaíl

Mutation

Mutated forms of plump

radical	lenition	eclipsis
plump	phlump	bplump

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “plump”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpʰlʉmp]

Adjective

plump

1. big and awkward
2. base, vulgar

Swedish

Adjective

plump (comparative plumpare, superlative plumpast)

1. (possibly unintentionally) offensive due to lacking tact; rude, vulgar, tactless

   Komikern var kul i början, men när han gjorde sig lustig över utseendet hos killen i publiken blev det plumpt

   The comedian started out funny, but when he made fun of the looks of the guy in the audience it stopped being funny

Declension

Inflection of plump

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	plump	plumpare	plumpast
neuter singular	plumpt	plumpare	plumpast
plural	plumpa	plumpare	plumpast
masculine plural2	plumpe	plumpare	plumpast
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	plumpe	plumpare	plumpaste
all	plumpa	plumpare	plumpaste

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

See also

• burdus

Noun

plump c

1. a blot (of ink)

   Synonym: bläckplump (“inkblot”)

Declension

Declension of plump

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	plump	plumps
	definite	plumpen	plumpens
plural	indefinite	plumpar	plumpars
	definite	plumparna	plumparnas

Derived terms

• en plump i protokollet

References

• plump in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• plump in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• plump in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)