clump
/klʌmp/ noun, verb
Forms clumps clumping clumped
- noun A cluster or lump; an unshaped piece or mass.
- noun (collective) A thick group or bunch, especially of bushes or hair.
- noun (collective) A small group of trees or other plants growing together.
- noun A dull thud.
- noun The compressed clay of coal strata.
- noun (historical) A thick addition to the sole of a shoe.
- verb (ambitransitive) To form clusters or lumps.
- verb (ambitransitive) To gather in dense groups.
- verb (intransitive) To walk with heavy footfalls.
- verb (transitive, UK, regional) To strike; to beat.
Synonyms
bunch cluster clustering ball clod glob lump chunk thump thumping clunk thud clop plunk constellate flock clomp bunch up bundle
Etymology
From Middle English clompe, from Old English clymppe, a variant of clympre (“a lump or mass of metal”), from Proto-Germanic *klumpô (“mass, lump, clump; clasp”), from Proto-Indo-European *glembʰ- (“lump, clamp”).
Alternatively, possibly from Middle Dutch clompe or Middle Low German klumpe (compare German Klumpen). Doublet of klomp.
Cognates include Danish klump (probably from Low German as well). Compare Norwegian Bokmål klump.
Webster’s 1913
- noun An unshaped piece or mass of wood or other substance.
- noun A cluster; a group; a thicket.
- verb To arrange in a clump or clumps; to cluster; to group.
- verb To tread clumsily; to clamp. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.
Etymology [Cf. D. klomp lump, G. klump, klumpen, Dan. klump, Sw. kllimp; perh. akin to L. globus, E. globe. Cf. Club.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “clump”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details