plunge

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English plungen, ploungen, Anglo-Norman plungier, from Old French plonger, (Modern French plonger), from unattested Late Latin frequentative *plumbicare (“to throw a leaded line”), from Latin plumbum (“lead”). Compare plumb, plounce.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA: /plʌndʒ/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)

Noun[edit]

plunge (plural plunges)

  1. the act of plunging or submerging
  2. a dive, leap, rush, or pitch into (into water)
    to take the water with a plunge
    plunge in the sea
  3. (figuratively) the act of pitching or throwing one's self headlong or violently forward, like an unruly horse
  4. (slang) heavy and reckless betting in horse racing; hazardous speculation
  5. (obsolete) an immersion in difficulty, embarrassment, or distress; the condition of being surrounded or overwhelmed; a strait; difficulty

Translations[edit]

The act of thrusting into or submerging; a dive, leap, rush, or pitch into, or as into, water; as, to take the water with a plunge

Verb[edit]

plunge (third-person singular simple present plunges, present participle plunging, simple past and past participle plunged)

  1. (transitive) to thrust into water, or into any substance that is penetrable; to immerse;
    to plunge the body into water
  2. (figuratively, transitive) to cast or throw into some thing, state, condition or action
    to plunge a dagger into the breast
    to plunge a nation into war
  3. (transitive, obsolete) to baptize by immersion
  4. (intransitive) to dive, leap or rush (into water or some liquid); to submerge one's self
    he plunged into the river
  5. (figuratively, intransitive) to fall or rush headlong into some thing, action, state or condition
    to plunge into debt
    to plunge into controversy
    • 1989, David Gale, The Theory of Linear Economic Models:
      Before asking the reader to plunge into the subject of linear models I shall, in accordance with a sensible custom, attempt in the few pages which follow to give some idea of what this subject is.
  6. (intransitive) to pitch or throw one's self headlong or violently forward, as a horse does
  7. (intransitive, slang) to bet heavily and with seeming recklessness on a race, or other contest; in an extended sense, to risk large sums in hazardous speculations
  8. (intransitive, obsolete) to entangle or embarrass (mostly used in past participle)
  9. (intransitive, obsolete) to overwhelm, overpower
Translations[edit]
to thrust into water, or into any substance that is penetrable; to immerse
(figuratively, transitive) to cast or throw into some thing, state, condition or action
(intransitive) to dive, leap or rush (into water or some liquid); to submerge one's self
(figuratively, intransitive) to fall or rush headlong into some thing, action, state or condition
(intransitive) to pitch or throw one's self headlong or violently forward, as a horse does
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Anagrams[edit]

References[edit]

  • plunge in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • “plunge” in OED Online, Oxford University Press, 1989.
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