Etymology From Middle English plump, plompe, a borrowing from Middle Dutch plomp or Middle Low German plump. Cognate with Saterland Frisian plump (“plump”).
1
Having a full and rounded shape; chubby, somewhat overweight.
a plump baby; plump cheeks
The god of wine did his plump clusters bring.1651, Thomas Carew, To my friend G. N. from Wrest:
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My ideal is to be idle and to love a plump girl.2015, Anton Chekhov, The Life and Genius of Anton Chekhov: Letters, Diary, Reminiscences and Biography: Assorted Collection of Autobiographical Writings of the Renowned Russian Author and Playwright of Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard, The Three Sisters and The Seagull, e-artnow, →ISBN:
He was a plump little man and we had been walking uphill at a pace—set by him—far too rapid for his short legs. He breathed stertorously, and half the drops which glimmered on his rotund face were not rain but sweat.1956, Delano Ames, chapter 23, in Crime out of Mind:
2
Sudden and without reservation; blunt; direct; downright.
We are averse to plump queries, but we are going to ask our readers a plain, simple question Did you ever see a paper y'clept "The Yankee Blade?"1847, editorial staff, “The Yankee Blade”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 66:
After the plump statement that the author was at Erceldoune and spake with Thomas.1898, George Saintsbury, “XXXVII The Dullards That Men Are”, in A Short History of English Literature:
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I've said so haven't I? Plump and plain.1925, Stanley John Weyman, Queen's Folly:
A plump wine, with an abundance of plum and berry characteristics and soft, round tannins. Easy to drink; ready on release.1992, The Wine Spectator, volume 17, page 33:
Etymology From Middle English plump, plompe, a borrowing from Middle Dutch plomp or Middle Low German plump. Cognate with Saterland Frisian plump (“plump”).
1
To grow plump; to swell out.
Her cheeks have plumped.
2
To make plump; to fill (out) or support; often with up.
to plump oysters or scallops by placing them in fresh or brackish water
to plump up the hollowness of their history with improbable miracles1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
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Although Miss Pross, through her long association with a French family, might have known as much of their language as of her own, if she had had a mind, she had no mind in that direction […] So her manner of marketing was to plump a noun-substantive at the head of a shopkeeper without any introduction in the nature of an article […]1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:
3
To give a plumper (kind of vote).
4
To give (a vote), as a plumper.
5
To favor or decide in favor of.
A recent poll by the New York Times found that although most Brazilians plump for arch-rival Argentina as the team they most want to lose, the second-biggest group want Brazil itself to stumble.2014, “Brazil in a nutshell”, in The Economist:
Etymology From Middle English plumpen, akin to Middle Dutch plompen, Middle Low German plumpen, German plumpsen.
1
Directly; suddenly; perpendicularly.
I suppose then, that going plump on a flying whale with your sail set in a foggy squall is the height of a whaleman’s discretion?1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 49, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 253:
plump
noun
Etymology From Middle English plumpen, akin to Middle Dutch plompen, Middle Low German plumpen, German plumpsen.
1
The sound of a sudden heavy fall.
As she beheld her, poor Mrs. Mack's heart fluttered up to her mouth, and then dropped with a dreadful plump, into the pit of her stomach.1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
To visit islands and the plumps of men.1614–1615, Homer, “(please specify the book number)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume (please specify the book number), London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC: