Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#LUMPCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#LUMP lumpe, from a GermanicCategory:English terms derived from Germanic languages#LUMP base akin to Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#LUMP *limpaną (“to glide, go, hang loosely”). Compare Dutch lomp (“rag”), German Low German Lump (“rag”), German Lumpen (“rag”) and Lump (“ragamuffin”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lʌmp/Category:English 1-syllable words#LUMPCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#LUMP

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#LUMP
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /lʊmp/Category:English 1-syllable words#LUMPCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#LUMP
• Rhymes: -ʌmpCategory:Rhymes:English/ʌmp#LUMPCategory:Rhymes:English/ʌmp/1 syllable#LUMP

Noun

lump (plural lumps)Category:English lemmas#LUMPCategory:English nouns#LUMPCategory:English countable nouns#LUMPCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#LUMPCategory:Pages with entries#LUMPCategory:Pages with 5 entries#LUMP

1. Something that protrudes, sticks out, or sticks together; a cluster or blob; a mound or mass of no particular shape.

   Stir the gravy until there are no more lumps.Category:English terms with usage examples#LUMP

   a lump of coal; a lump of clay; a lump of cheeseCategory:English terms with usage examples#LUMP

2. A swelling or nodule of tissue under the skin or in an internal part of the body.

   Lumps in the breasts are an indicator of breast cancer.Category:English terms with usage examples#LUMP

3. A group, set, or unit.

   The money arrived all at once as one big lump sum payment.Category:English terms with usage examples#LUMP

4. A small, shaped mass of sugar, typically about a teaspoonful.

   Do you want one lump or two with your coffee?Category:English terms with usage examples#LUMP

5. A dull or lazy person.

   Don't just sit there like a lump.Category:English terms with usage examples#LUMP

   • 1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 7:

     "Thou great Norman lump!" he muttered. "If I conjure till Doomsday, I cannot make thee gold."

     Category:English terms with quotations#LUMP

6. A fat person.
7. (informalCategory:English informal terms#LUMP, as plural) A beating or verbal abuse.

   He's taken his lumps over the years.Category:English terms with usage examples#LUMP

   • 1994, Robert J. McMahon, The cold war on the periphery: the United States, India, and Pakistan, page 323:

     Komer admitted that the United States would probably suffer "short term lumps" as a result of Johnson's brusque decision.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LUMP

   • 2024 July 11, Theodore Schleifer, Jacob Bernstein, Reid J. Epstein, “How Biden Lost George Clooney and Hollywood”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     Mr. Katzenberg is now taking his commensurate lumps, particularly because contributors feel he helped disabuse donors’ concerns about Mr. Biden’s physical state.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LUMP

8. A projection beneath the breech end of a gun barrel.
9. A kind of fish, the lumpsucker.
   • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

     You roast him [the fish] […] just like a lump.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LUMP

10. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#LUMP, slangCategory:English slang#LUMP) Food given to a tramp to be eaten on the road.
    • 1923, Arthur Preston Hankins, chapter 12, in Cole of Spyglass Mountain‎, New York: Grosset & Dunlap:

      “A lump,” explained The Whimperer […] “is wot a kin’ lady slips youse w’en youse batter de back door. If she invites youse in and lets youse t’row yer feet unner de table, it’s a set-down. If she slips youse a lunch in a poiper bag, it’s a lump. See? […] ”

      Category:English terms with quotations#LUMP

      Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
11. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#LUMP, slangCategory:English slang#LUMP) The workhouse.

Verb

lump (third-person singular simple present lumps, present participle lumping, simple past and past participle lumped)Category:English lemmas#LUMPCategory:English verbs#LUMPCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#LUMPCategory:Pages with entries#LUMPCategory:Pages with 5 entries#LUMP

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#LUMP) To treat as a single unit; to group together in a casual or chaotic manner (as if forming an ill-defined lump of the items).

   People tend to lump turtles and tortoises together, when in fact they are different creatures.Category:English terms with usage examples#LUMP

   • 1996 September, V. Maulsby, “The Importance of Outside Commnication to the Transgendered Inmate”, in Gay Community News, page 31:

     Most gays don't want to know about us, so lumping us in their support efforts is counter-productive at best.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LUMP

   • 2015 February 24, Daniel Taylor, “Luis Suárez strikes twice as Barcelona teach Manchester City a lesson”, in The Guardian (London)‎:

     Pellegrini’s decision to operate with both Edin Dzeko and Agüero in attack certainly looks misjudged bearing in mind that the first way to stop Barcelona is usually to try to crowd midfield and restrict space. Yet it would be wrong to lump all the blame on the manager’s tactics.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LUMP

2. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#LUMP) To bear (a heavy or awkward burden); to carry (something unwieldy) from one place to another.
   • 1876, Belgravia, volume 30, page 131:

     Well, a male body was brought to a certain surgeon by a man he had often employed, and the pair lumped it down on the dissecting table, and then the vendor received his money and went.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LUMP

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   • 1999, Alf Goldberg, World's End for Sir Oswald: Portraits of Working-class Life in Pre-war London, Book Guild, →ISBN:

     I never ceased to be amazed at his prowess at being able to lump two-hundredweight sacks of coal, which seemed as big as he was, up perhaps four flights of narrow stairs

     Category:English terms with quotations#LUMP

3. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#LUMP) To burden (someone) with an undesired task or responsibility.
   • 2019 January 9, Drachinifel, 15:17 from the start, in The Channel Dash / Operation Cerberus - How to win through refuge in audacity‎, archived from the original on 24 July 2022:

     The Luftwaffe, at this point, was still refusing to play ball completely, however. But someone decided to lump Adolf Galland with command of the air operation, and he decided to work with Luftflotte 3, mobilizing their training units to make up the numbers, since large numbers of that particular formation's fighters had been diverted to the campaign in Russia, which was why the fighter numbers were so much lower than they had been the previous year.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LUMP

4. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#LUMP, slangCategory:English slang#LUMP) To hit or strike (a person).
   • 1962, Floyd Patterson, Victory Over Myself, page 63:

     If that's the only way you can fight, then you'd better be prepared to get lumped.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LUMP

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
5. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#LUMP) To form a lump or lumps.
   • 2004, Creative Gifts: Quick & Easy Projects, page 44:

     Thin the paint with mineral spirits for a medium consistency so that it will not drip or lump.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LUMP

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned

See also

• take one’s lumps
• lump it
• like it or lump it, love it or lump it
• lump up

Further reading

• “lump”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “lump”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Plum, plum

Etymology

Borrowed from GermanCategory:Czech terms borrowed from German#LUMPCategory:Czech terms derived from German#LUMP Lump (“cad”).^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlump]Category:Czech terms with IPA pronunciation#LUMP

Noun

lump m animCategory:Czech lemmas#LUMPCategory:Czech nouns#LUMPCategory:Czech entries with incorrect language header#LUMPCategory:Czech masculine nouns#LUMPCategory:Czech animate nouns#LUMPCategory:Pages with entries#LUMPCategory:Pages with 5 entries#LUMP

1. scoundrel, rascal

   Synonym: darebák

References

Further reading

• “lump”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “lump”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Etymology

From EnglishCategory:French terms derived from English#LUMP lumpfish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lœ̃p/Category:French 1-syllable words#LUMPCategory:French terms with IPA pronunciation#LUMP

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#LUMP

Noun

lump m (plural lumps)Category:French lemmas#LUMPCategory:French nouns#LUMPCategory:French countable nouns#LUMPCategory:French entries with incorrect language header#LUMPCategory:French masculine nouns#LUMPCategory:Pages with entries#LUMPCategory:Pages with 5 entries#LUMP

1. lumpfish

   œufs de lump ― lumpfish eggsCategory:French terms with usage examples#LUMP

References

• “lump”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Further reading

• “lump”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Etymology

From GermanCategory:Hungarian terms borrowed from German#LUMPCategory:Hungarian terms derived from German#LUMP Lump.^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlump]Category:Hungarian terms with IPA pronunciation#LUMP
• Hyphenation: lump
• Rhymes: -umpCategory:Rhymes:Hungarian/ump#LUMP

Adjective

lumpCategory:Hungarian lemmas#LUMPCategory:Hungarian adjectives#LUMPCategory:Hungarian entries with incorrect language header#LUMPCategory:Pages with entries#LUMPCategory:Pages with 5 entries#LUMP (comparative lumpabb, superlative leglumpabb)

1. rakish, dissolute, debauched (regularly engaging in late night drunken social gatherings)

   Synonyms: korhely, mulatós, kicsapongó, italos, részeges

Noun

lump (plural lumpok)Category:Hungarian lemmas#LUMPCategory:Hungarian nouns#LUMPCategory:Hungarian entries with incorrect language header#LUMPCategory:Pages with entries#LUMPCategory:Pages with 5 entries#LUMP

1. (colloquialCategory:Hungarian colloquialisms#LUMP, derogatoryCategory:Hungarian derogatory terms#LUMP, chiefly of a man) rascal, carouser, roisterer, raver, drunkard (a person who regularly attends late night drunken social gatherings)

References

Further reading

• lump in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlump/Category:Polish 1-syllable words#LUMPCategory:Polish terms with IPA pronunciation#LUMP

• Audio:

  (file)

  Category:Polish terms with audio pronunciation#LUMP
• Rhymes: -umpCategory:Rhymes:Polish/ump#LUMPCategory:Rhymes:Polish/ump/1 syllable#LUMP
• Syllabification: lump

Etymology 1

Borrowed from GermanCategory:Polish terms borrowed from German#LUMPCategory:Polish terms derived from German#LUMP Lump.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from GermanCategory:Polish terms borrowed from German#LUMPCategory:Polish terms derived from German#LUMP Lumpen.

Etymology 3

Clipping of lumpeksCategory:Polish clippings#LUMP.

Further reading

• “lump”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎ (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “lump”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎ (in Polish)