lump

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

lump

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English lumpe, from a Germanic base akin to Proto-Germanic *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/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌmp

Noun

lump (plural lumps)

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.

   a lump of coal; a lump of clay; a lump of cheese

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.

3. A group, set, or unit.

   The money arrived all at once as one big lump sum payment.

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

   Do you want one lump or two with your coffee?

5. A dull or lazy person.

   Don't just sit there like a 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."

6. A fat person.
7. (informal, as plural) A beating or verbal abuse.

   He's taken his lumps over the years.

   • 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.

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.

10. (obsolete, slang) 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? […] ”

11. (obsolete, slang) The workhouse.

Hyponyms

• nubble

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

lump (third-person singular simple present lumps, present participle lumping, simple past and past participle lumped)

1. (transitive) 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.

   • 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.

2. (transitive) 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.

   • 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

3. (transitive) 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.

4. (transitive, slang) 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.

5. (intransitive) 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.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• take one’s lumps
• lump it
• like it or lump it

Further reading

• “lump”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “lump”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Plum, plum

Czech

Etymology

Derived from German Lump.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

lump m anim

1. scoundrel, rascal

   Synonym: darebák

Declension

Related terms

Further reading

• lump in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• lump in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

French

French Wikipedia has an article on:

lump

Wikipedia ^fr

Etymology

From English lumpfish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lœ̃p/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

lump m (plural lumps)

1. lumpfish

   œufs de lump ― lumpfish eggs

References

• “lump”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Further reading

• “lump”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Hungarian

Etymology

From German Lump.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: lump
• Rhymes: -ump

Adjective

lump (comparative lumpabb, superlative leglumpabb)

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

   Synonyms: korhely, mulatós, kicsapongó, italos, részeges

Declension

Derived terms

• lumpol

Noun

lump (plural lumpok)

1. (colloquial, derogatory, chiefly of a man) rascal, carouser, roisterer, raver, drunkard (a person who regularly attends late night drunken social gatherings)

Declension

References

Further reading

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

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lump/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ump
• Syllabification: lump

Etymology 1

Borrowed from German Lump.

Noun

lump m pers

1. (colloquial, derogatory) good-for-nothing, ne'er-do-well

   Synonyms: lumpiarz, menel, nurek

Declension

Etymology 2

Borrowed from German Lumpen.

Noun

lump m inan

1. (colloquial, derogatory) piece of clothing

   Synonyms: łach, łachman, szmata

Declension

Etymology 3

Clipping of lumpeks.

Noun

lump m inan

1. (colloquial, often derogatory) thrift shop (store that sells second-hand clothing)

   Synonyms: ciuchland, ciucholand, ciuszek, dziadownia, lumpeks, second hand, szmaciak, szmateks

Declension

Related terms

Further reading

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