sump
Americannoun
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sumps
plural
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a pit, well, or the like in which water or other liquid is collected.
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Machinery. a chamber at the bottom of a machine, pump, circulation system, etc., into which a fluid drains before recirculation or in which wastes gather before disposal.
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Mining.
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a space where water is allowed to collect at the bottom of a shaft or below a passageway.
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a pilot shaft or tunnel pushed out in front of a main bore.
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British. crankcase.
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British Dialect. a swamp, bog, or muddy pool.
noun
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a receptacle, such as the lower part of the crankcase of an internal-combustion engine, into which liquids, esp lubricants, can drain to form a reservoir
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another name for cesspool
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mining
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a depression at the bottom of a shaft where water collects before it is pumped away
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the front portion of a shaft or tunnel, ahead of the main bore
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dialect a muddy pool or swamp
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sump
1375–1425; late Middle English sompe < Middle Low German or Middle Dutch sump; cognate with German Sumpf; akin to swamp
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:
Powertrain Naturally aspirated liquid-cooled 90-degree V4 engine, 1,158-cc displacement, counter-rotating crankshaft, semi dry sump lubrication; six-speed manual transmission with straight-cut gears and multi-plate clutch, with slipper action on overrun; chain drive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
Friends, my family included, have been scrounging for fans, dehumidifiers, and sump pumps to lend to friends affected by the flood.
From Slate ● Aug. 9, 2024
“There was a bowl in the infield, and when it rained, I was out there with sump pumps and running extension cords. I wore boots, because I would get shocked if I didn’t.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2024
Last week, Ford said it had offered a 9% wage increase through 2027 and 6% lump sump payments, much less than the 46% wage hike being sought by the union.
From Reuters ● Sep. 7, 2023
It was cold and dead, and a foul sump of oily many-coloured ooze lay at its bottom.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
Many of these older systems, especially the sumps, weren't designed to handle the corrosive mix of gasoline and ethanol sold in the United States.
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2023
In very short order, much of this clean and lovely place, and a shoreline whose wetlands had cleaned and revived the natural system for millennia, were turned into sodden chemical sumps.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2021
Though Kirk Cousins recovered his own fumble, this picture pretty much sumps up the Redskins season:
From Washington Post ● Dec. 8, 2015
In other cases, environmental testing has disclosed the presence of oil spreading in groundwater from old spills and sumps, rendering property close to worthless.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 6, 2015
From the preliminary borings it was thought that the sumps were located so that the entire construction would be in rock.
From Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910 The New York Tunnel Extension of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The East River Tunnels. Paper No. 1159 by James H. Brace
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.
