lump

[ luhmp ]

/ lʌmp /

noun

a piece or mass of solid matter without regular shape or of no particular shape: a lump of coal.

a protuberance or swelling: a blow that raised a lump on his head.

an aggregation, collection, or mass; clump: All the articles were piled in a great lump.

Also called lump of sugar. a small block of granulated sugar, designed for sweetening hot coffee, tea, etc.: How many lumps do you take in your coffee?

majority; plurality; multitude: The great lump of voters are still undecided.

lumps, Informal. harsh criticism, punishment, or defeat: The new theory came in for some lumps when other scholars heard of it.

Informal. a heavy, clumsy, and usually stupid person.

adjective

in the form of a lump or lumps: lump sugar.

made up of a number of items taken together; not separated or considered separately: The debts were paid in one lump sum.

verb (used with object)

to unite into one aggregation, collection, or mass (often followed by together): We lumped the reds and blues together.

to deal with, handle, consider, etc., in the lump or mass: to lump unrelated matters indiscriminately.

to make into a lump or lumps: to lump dough before shaping it into loaves.

to raise into or cover with lumps: a plow lumping the moist earth.

verb (used without object)

to form or raise a lump or lumps: Stir the gravy so that it doesn't lump.

to move heavily and awkwardly: The big oaf lumped along beside me.

QUIZZES

THIS PSAT VOCABULARY QUIZ IS PERFECT PRACTICE FOR THE REAL TEST

In our third teacher-created PSAT practice test there are new and unique vocabulary terms you may have never heard of! Can you guess what they mean?

Question 1 of 10

seclusion

a false belief or opinion.

the matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid.

the state of being isolated, kept apart, or withdrawn into solitude.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Idioms for lump

get / take one's lumps, to receive or endure hardship, punishment, criticism, etc.: Without its star pitcher, the baseball team will get its lumps today.

Origin of lump

1250–1300; Middle English lumpe, lomp(e); cognate with early Dutch lompe piece, Danish lump(e) lump, dialectal Norwegian lump block

OTHER WORDS FROM lump

lump·ing·ly, adverb

Definition for lump (2 of 2)

lump²

[ luhmp ]

/ lʌmp /

verb (used with object) Informal.

to put up with; resign oneself to; accept and endure: If you don't like it, you can lump it.

Origin of lump

An Americanism dating back to 1785–95; Americanism; perhaps identical with British dialect lump “to look sullen,” of expressive origin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Example sentences from the Web for lump

Instead of syncing the three games in any intelligent fashion, everything just feels lumped together.
Call of Duty’s merged world has everything a player could want. Except logic.|Mike Hume|December 18, 2020|Washington Post
In its pages Martin details the recipes she learned from the Cajun women in her family, from brothy chicken gumbo to lump crab cakes held together with shrimp binder.
As customers and coastlines disappear, a New Orleans chef fights for her community|Dayana Sarkisova|December 17, 2020|Washington Post
As I wrote here, I do think there’s decent evidence that it helps, though you can quibble about whether lifting heavy weights and doing explosive plyometric drills should or shouldn’t be lumped together in one category.
Rethinking the Cross-Training Paradox|Alex Hutchinson|November 19, 2020|Outside Online
Nothing about the radiation reveals whether it came from an astronaut or a lump of lead.
The Most Famous Paradox in Physics Nears Its End|George Musser|October 29, 2020|Quanta Magazine

In many cases, states were slow to set up their unemployment systems to distribute those weekly payments, which were sometimes disbursed later as one large lump sum.
U.S. economy recoups two-thirds of ground lost in first half of year, but there is still far to go|Rachel Siegel, Andrew Van Dam|October 29, 2020|Washington Post
Whitman is made to share a chapter, lumped in with Proust, Wilde, and Baudelaire, in which he is allotted a mere paragraph.
John Sutherland‘s Enjoyable Little History of Literature|Malcolm Forbes|November 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Thus Zawahiri lumped American, Russia, and Israel together as the enemies of Muslims everywhere.
Al Qaeda Is Probably Pleased With Boston Bombing|Bruce Riedel|April 19, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Lumped together, this means that over $1B will have been sucked out of Manchester United and gone to the banks or the Glazers.
Manchester United: The Glazer Family’s Bad Play|Michael Moritz|August 6, 2012|DAILY BEAST
And at CPAC, King told gave conservatives an enemies list that lumped liberals in with genocidal dictators like Stalin and Mao.
10 Congressmen Who Should Be Fired|John Avlon|July 29, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Rome's scrambling to undo damage from changes to church law that lumped ordination of women priests with child sex abuse.
The Vatican's Woman Crisis|Michelle Goldberg|July 18, 2010|DAILY BEAST
They are frequently (and on valid linguistic grounds) lumped with the Bannock, as was done by Ross.
Shoshone-Bannock Subsistence and Society|Robert F. Murphy
I fell asleep early, exhausted from lack of sleep, and awoke in an hour, frantic with my lumped and burning skin.
The Mutiny of the Elsinore|Jack London
Obviously, fairy stories cannot be lumped and rejected en masse.
Here and Now Story Book|Lucy Sprague Mitchell
He had lumped together the whole girl question and had relegated it to the back of his mind.
Sheila of Big Wreck Cove|James A. Cooper
The burnings under Henry and Edward are lumped together in the mind of the people, and all set down to Mary.
South London|Sir Walter Besant

British Dictionary definitions for lump (1 of 2)

lump¹

/ (lʌmp) /

noun

a small solid mass without definite shape

pathol any small swelling or tumour

a collection of things; aggregate

informal an awkward, heavy, or stupid person

(plural) US informal punishment, defeat, or reverseshe took his lumps

the lump British

self-employed workers in the building trade considered collectively, esp with reference to tax and national insurance evasion
(as modifier)lump labour

(modifier) in the form of a lump or lumpslump sugar

a lump in one's throat a tight dry feeling in one's throat, usually caused by great emotion

verb

(tr often foll by together) to collect into a mass or group

(intr) to grow into lumps or become lumpy

(tr) to consider as a single group, often without justification

(tr) to make or cause lumps in or on

(intr often foll by along) to move or proceed in a heavy manner

Word Origin for lump

C13: probably related to early Dutch lompe piece, Scandinavian dialect lump block, Middle High German lumpe rag

British Dictionary definitions for lump (2 of 2)

lump²

/ (lʌmp) /

verb

(tr) informal to tolerate or put up with; endure (in the phrase lump it)

Word Origin for lump

C16: origin uncertain

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with lump

lump

In addition to the idiom beginning with lump

lump in one's throat

also see:

like it or lump it

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lump