rump
Americannoun
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rumps
plural
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the hind part of the body of an animal, as the hindquarters of a quadruped or sacral region of a bird.
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a cut of beef from this part of the animal, behind the loin and above the round.
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the buttocks.
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the last part, especially that which is unimportant or inferior.
a rump of territory.
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the remnant of a legislature, council, etc., after a majority of the members have resigned or been expelled.
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English History. the Rump, Rump Parliament.
adjective
noun
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the hindquarters of a mammal, not including the legs
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the rear part of a bird's back, nearest to the tail
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a person's buttocks
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Also called: rump steak. a cut of beef from behind the loin and above the round
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an inferior remnant
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of rump
1375–1425; late Middle English rumpe < Scandinavian; compare Danish, Norwegian, Swedish rumpe rump, tail; cognate with German Rumpf body, trunk
Vocabulary lists containing rump
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
We’ve shipped enormous quantities of rump across the Pacific for ground beef for hamburgers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Water and other specialties stay behind in the rump DuPont.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 9, 2025
But when the show’s first Hamlet, ambulated by an Oxford-trained actor named Dipo Ola, performs a few lines, he’s instantly more compelling than the sight of ParTeb shaking his rump.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2025
Some rump elements of Hamas may also try to preserve at least some capacity to smuggle weapons and other military necessities.
From Slate ● Oct. 25, 2023
He hadn’t seen any bears—indeed, he had been section hiking the trail for years and had seen a bear only once, briefly, rump end and fleeing, deep in the Maine woods.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
All the other elephants in his herd run to him at the first sign of trouble; during calmer times, they willingly present him with their rumps in a seeming sign of submission.
From Salon ● May 27, 2024
It has long been assumed that the primary hosts for avian flu are dabbling ducks, such as mallards, teals and shovelers, that feed on the surface and just below with their rumps in the air.
From New York Times ● Jun. 17, 2022
Females were more likely to bite the rumps of males at the most fertile phase of their reproductive cycle, researchers found.
From The Guardian ● May 9, 2018
If you watch their weight over their rumps, that's where they usually lose it if they can't handle what you're giving them.
From Seattle Times ● May 19, 2012
He sat close to his uncle then, on the wagon seat, above the bony gray rumps of the mules.
From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
