lump Hear it!

lump¹ Definition

lump (lump)

noun

  1. a solid mass of no special shape, esp. one small enough to be taken up in the hand; hunk
    1. a small cube or oblong piece
    2. such a cube or piece made of sugar crystals bound together with sugar syrup
  3. a swelling or protuberance, as one caused by a blow or formed by a tumor or cyst
    1. Obsolete aggregate or collection
    2. a great mass, amount, number, etc.
  5. a dull, clodlike person
  6. ☆ Informal hard blows, punishment, criticism, or the like: usually in get (or take) one's lumps or give someone his (or her) lumps

Etymology: ME lompe, lumpe, akin ? to Dan lompe, a mass, lump, Swed dial. lump, a block, stump, MHG lumpe, rag: see limp

adjective

forming or formed into a lump or lumps lump sugar

transitive verb

  1. to put together in a lump or lumps
  2. to treat or deal with in a mass, or include in one group
  3. to make lumps in

intransitive verb

  1. to become lumpy
  2. to move heavily and laboriously: usually with along

lump¹ Idioms

in the lump

in the mass or aggregate; all together

lump in one's throat

a tight feeling in the throat, as from restrained emotion

lump² Definition

lump (lump)

transitive verb

☆ Informal to dislike and have to put up with (something disagreeable) if you don't like it, you can lump it

Etymology: Early ModE, to look sour < ? lump, but infl. by grump, mump

lump Synonyms

lump

n.

handful, protuberance, bunch, bump, agglomeration, block, bulk, chunk, piece, portion, section; see also mass 1, part 1.

get (<strong><em>or</em> </strong>take) one's lumps*

be punished, undergo, receive punishment; see suffer 1.

in the lump

amassed, aggregated, collected; see gathered.

lump Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • leaveneth: Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

Adjective modifier

  • bony: Bunions are bony lumps that develop on the side of the foot at the base of the big toe.
  • cancerous: Izzie, meanwhile, is having trouble with her patient, who needs a biopsy on a potentially cancerous testicular lump.
  • shapeless: It was nothing more than a large, shapeless lump of glass, dark and smoky.
  • benign: The hills in question are always fairly benign lumps without any sharp edges to fall off in the dark.

Modifies a noun

  • sum: The simplest is a lump sum payment of the value of the policy.
  • hammer: Thankfully it was thin enough to yield to the lump hammer.
  • payment: The simplest is a lump sum payment of the value of the policy.
  • payout: With the lump sum payout she had received together with personal savings, Gisella decided to attend Westminster College and retrain as a designer.
  • compensation: Once a lump sum compensation payment has been received, it may affect your client's entitlements to any income-based benefits.

Noun used with modifier

  • commencement: Paragraph 23 amends the overall ceiling on an individual's total pension commencement lump sums of 25 % of the standard lifetime allowance.
  • one-off: We asked that the conditions be leveled up and sought a one-off lump sum payment.
  • breast: Analgesia by wound infiltration after surgical excision of breast lumps.

Preposition: in

  • testicle: Testicular cancer normally presents itself as a lump in the testicle.
  • throat: You have a lump in the throat, your heart is in your mouth, only fear, you just want to run off.

Preposition: of

  • lard: The rest of the suit required a golf ball size lump of lard to get into!
  • clay: On the front of the hat was stuck a lump of clay, which held a tallow candle.
  • granite: For a moment, that giant lump of granite steals the wind.
  • coal: What grand memories of chopping the huge lumps of coal with a butcher's knife.
  • sandstone: The experiment was repeated with a lump of sandstone.
lump Quotes

Sure the poet†spewed up a good lump of clotted nonsense at once.

—Dryden,John

Lump the whole thing! Say that the Creator made Italy from designs by Michael Angelo!

—Twain, Mark pseudonym of  Samuel Langhorne Clemens

The camel's hump is an ugly lump Which well you may see at the Zoo; But uglier yet is the hump we get From having too little to do.

—Kipling, (Joseph) Rudyard