Etymology Probably of North Germanic origin: compare Danish slumpe (“to stumble upon by chance”), Norwegian slumpe (“happen by chance”), Norwegian slumpa (“happen by chance”), Swedish slumpa (“randomize; to sell off”), Swedish slump (“chance, randomness, happenstance”). Compare also German schlumpen (“to trail; draggle; be sloppy”), dialectal Dutch slompen (“to walk clumsily”).
1
To collapse heavily or helplessly.
Exhausted, he slumped down onto the sofa.
“Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better.[…]”1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
2
To decline or fall off in activity or performance.
Real estate prices slumped during the recession.
The Gunners captain demonstrated his importance to the team by taking his tally to an outstanding 28 goals in 27 Premier League games as Chelsea slumped again after their shock defeat at QPR last week.2011 October 29, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal”, in BBC Sport:
1 more example
But in the week ending December 6, usage slumped from 72% of pre-pandemic numbers to just 56%, following revised advice that we should work from home again.2021 December 29, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Problems galore in 2021...”, in RAIL, number 947, page 3:
3
To slouch or droop.
“Isaac Sachs’s tragic flaw, ” analyzes Isaac Sachs, slumped in the bay window across from Luisa Rey two hours later, “is this. Too cowardly to be a warrior, but not enough of a coward to lie down and roll over like a good doggy.”2004, David Mitchell, “Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery”, in Cloud Atlas, →ISBN, page 131:
4
To lump; to throw together messily.
These different groups[…]are exclusively slumped together under that sense.a. 1857, William Hamilton, edited by H[enry] L[ongueville] Mansel and John Veitch, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1859–1860, →OCLC:
5
To fall or sink suddenly through or in, when walking on a surface, as on thawing snow or ice, a bog, etc.
The latter walk on a bottomless quag, into which unawares they may slump.a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number)”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC:
6
Slang To cause to collapse; to hit hard; to render unconscious; to kill.
slump
noun
Etymology Probably of North Germanic origin: compare Danish slumpe (“to stumble upon by chance”), Norwegian slumpe (“happen by chance”), Norwegian slumpa (“happen by chance”), Swedish slumpa (“randomize; to sell off”), Swedish slump (“chance, randomness, happenstance”). Compare also German schlumpen (“to trail; draggle; be sloppy”), dialectal Dutch slompen (“to walk clumsily”).
A heavy or helpless collapse; a slouching or drooping posture; a period of poor activity or performance, especially an extended period.
2
Broadly, Slang A period when a person goes without the expected amount of sex or dating.
TOM. We haven't had sex with each other in five months. MICHAEL. We're in a slump, I know that."2004, Jonathan Tolins, The Last Sunday in June:
3
A period of poor performance.
If she doesn't pull out of her slump, her job may be in jeopardy.
4
A measure of the fluidity of freshly mixed concrete, based on how much the concrete formed in a standard slump cone sags when the cone is removed.
5
Geography, Geology, Natural sciences A form of mass wasting in which a coherent mass of loosely consolidated materials or a rock layer moves a short distance down a slope.
6
Geography, Geology, Natural sciencesBroadly A crater or depression (an area where the ground slumps) which forms as a result of such wasting. (A large crater is colloquially called a megaslump.)
The biggest slump in the world - a mega-slump - is in the Russian taiga. Known as the Batagaika crater, it is a kilometre-long gash in the ground, about 70 metres deep, and growing[…]2022 September 8, Mark Brownlow, Elizabeth White, Frozen Planet II, Random House, →ISBN:
The road was all slumps of holes.1880, William Hugh Patterson, A Glossary of Words in Use in the Counties of Antrim and Down:
It was neither seemly nor befitting that so great an occasion should have its solemnity defaced by leaping-poles or four hands crossed cradlewise to convey the bridal finery over “slump” or “quakkin'-qua[g]”!1911, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, Rose of the Wilderness, page 165:
8
Scotland The noise made by anything falling into a hole, or into a soft, miry place.