Also 4–6 lomp(e, lumpe, (5 lumppe). [ME. lump; not found in the early Teut. dialects; cf. early mod.Du. lompe (now lomp) rag; Du. lomp, LG. lump adj., coarse, heavy, rude; Ger. (from Du. or LG.) lumpen rag, lump ragamuffin; Sw. lump (Da. 16th c.) rag is from Ger. A sense nearer to that of the Eng. word occurs in Da. (16th c.) lump(e lump, Norw. and Sw. dial. lump block, stump, log, lumpe a sort of cake.
The ulterior etymology is quite uncertain. Usually the word has been regarded as cogn. w. LAP sb.1 It might perh. be connected with OE. (ge)limpan, pa. pple. (ge)lumpen, to happen, the original notion being that of such a quantity as chance determines—such a portion as may offer itself, and not any measured or intentionally shaped piece.]
1. A compact mass of no particular shape; a shapeless piece or mass; often with implication of excessive size, protuberant outline, or clumsiness.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2869 (Cott.). Men findes lumpes [Gött. lompis] on þe sand O þer [read with Gött. Of ter] nan finer in þat land.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xliii. (Cecile), 461. [He] gert men with lumpis of led dyng hyme til he ves ded.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xii. 50. Men may find … grete lumppes þaroff, ȝa as grete as a hors, casten vp on þe land.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 17834. I put vp many a lompe off bred In-to my sak.
1508. Kennedie, Flyting w. Dunbar, 462. Thow spewit, and kest out mony a lathly lomp.
1581. Pettie, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., II. (1586), 59. Wee must frame all the bodie in such sorte, that it seeme neither to bee of one whole immoueable lumpe, neyther yet to be altogether loosely disioynted.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, III. vi. 30. When your Lordship sees … to what mettle this counterfeyt lump of ours [Theobald 1726 suggests oare] will be melted.
1656. Cowley, Pindar. Odes, Nemæan Ode, v. Nature herself, whilst in the Womb he was, Sow’d Strength and Beauty through the forming Mass, They mov’ed the vital Lump in every part.
1728. Pope, Dunc., I. 102. So Watchful Bruin forms, with plastic care, Each growing lump, and brings it to a Bear.
1738. Swift, Pol. Conversat., 95. She gives the Child a lump of Sugar.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. xxv. 365. A tin vessel filled with lumps of lead and iron as a weight.
1901. Speaker, 5 Jan., 375/2. American methods of handling do not readily lend themselves to the preservation of the coal in large lumps.
b. A lump in one’s throat: (a) A swelling in the throat; (b) a feeling of tightness or pressure in the throat due to emotion. popular.
1803. Med. Jrnl., IX. 552. She feeling a lump, to use her own expression, in her throat, which obstructed her swallowing.
1863. Mrs. H. Wood, Vern. Pride, lvi. (1888), 361. A lump was rising in Lionel’s throat.
a. 1878. P’cess Alice, in Biog. Sk. (1884), 34. A lump always comes into my throat when I think of it.
c. Lump of clay: applied disparagingly to the human body, or to a person stigmatized as ‘soulless.’
a. 1400. Cursor M., 27647 (Galba). Þou man þat in erth I say and wers þan a lump of clay.
1567. Satir. Poems Reform., iii. 7. Ane King at euin, with Sceptur, Sword, and Crown, At morne bot ane deformit lumpe of clay.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., II. v. 13. Yet are these Feet, whose strengthlesse stay is numme, Vnable to support this Lumpe of Clay.
c. 1680. Beveridge, Serm. (1729), I. 338. Being freed from these lumps of clay,… we shall be made like to the glorious angels.
1763. Churchill, Gotham, III. 175. One of the herd, a lump of common clay, Inform’d with life, to die and pass away.
[1855. Tennyson, Maud, I. XVI. i. This lump of earth has left his estate The lighter by the loss of his weight.]
d. transf. and fig.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 282. The man who is a lumpe or masse of foolishnesse, is the onely occasion of this motion.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., I. ii. 57. Blush, blush, thou lumpe of fowle Deformitie.
1624. Middleton, Game at Chess, IV. iv. 81. Is it that lump of rank ingratitude.
1821. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. Old & New Schoolm. Some neglected lump of nobility or gentry.
1876. Mozley, Univ. Serm., ii. 26. We come across some obstinate lump of evil that will not give way.
e. A great quantity; a ‘lot,’ ‘heap.’ Also pl. ‘lots,’ ‘heaps.’ slang or dial.
1523. Skelton, Garl. Laurel, 733. I am not ladyn of liddyrnes with lumpis.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. James, 25. He that is pressed with sondry lumpes of sorowes.
1713. Warder, True Amazons (ed. 2), 32. Now we are sure of a good lump of Honey.
1728. P. Walker, Life Peden (1827), 118. Nothing will convince this Generation but Judgments, and a surprising Lump of them upon the West of Scotland.
1841. L. Hunt, Seer (1864), 11. The merrier and happier they are in general, the greater the lumps of pain they can bear.
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., xv. Colonel Harding owed him a lump of money.
1880. Antrim & Down Gloss., Lump … (2) A quantity. ‘A lump of people.’
1896. Farmer, Slang, s.v., ‘I like that a lump.’
2. Applied spec. (chiefly fig. in Biblical use) to the mass of clay taken up by a potter or sculptor for one operation, and to the mass of dough intended for one baking.
1526. Tindale, Rom. ix. 21. Hath nott the potter power over the claye, even off the same lompe to make one vessell vnto honoure, and a nother vnto dishonoure? Ibid., 1 Cor. v. 6. Knowe ye not that a lytell leven sowereth the whole lompe of dowe? [1611 leaueneth the whole lumpe.]
a. 1633. G. Herbert, Church, Holy Comm. Before that sin turned flesh to stone And all our lump to leaven.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., II. ii. 45. All mens honours Lie like one lumpe before him, to be fashion’d Into what pitch he please.
1847. A. M. Gilliam, Trav. Mexico, 272. The meddlesome Puritan,… attempting to leaven the whole lump, will, I am afraid, often make the cake all dough.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), IV. 504. We have taken up a lump of fable, and have used more than we needed.
1875. Hannah W. Smith, Chr. Secret Happy Life, i. The way in which a lump of clay is made into a beautiful vessel.
† b. Hence, allusively, the whole mass or quantity of anything. Also, the ‘mass,’ ‘bulk,’ great majority. Obs.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 87. Now by this little crop, iudge you of the whole lumpe.
1659. Fuller, App. Inj. Innoc., II. 14. Who … calleth the whole Lump of English Papists, the Catholick Party.
1674. Hickman, Hist. Quinquart. (ed. 2), 81. God had not such a love for the whole lump of mankind, as to [etc.].
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 137, ¶ 2. The Lump of these [Swearers] may, I think, be very aptly divided into the common Distinction of High and Low. Ibid. (1711), Spect., No. 4, ¶ 7. The thoughtless Creatures who make up the Lump of that Sex.
† 3. An aggregate of units; a congeries, heap, clump, cluster; occas. a group (of persons). Obs.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XV. 229. About him slayne lay his menȝe All in a lump, on athyr hand.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 447. Lordis of þis world þat mayntenen lumpis of þes ordris and her housis and possessiouns.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 2230. Thus he layes one þe lumppe, and lordlye þeme served.
1611. Bible, 1 Sam. xxv. 18. An hundred clusters [marg. Or, lumps] of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figges. Ibid., 2 Kings xx. 7. Take a lumpe of figs.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., X. 469. Vermin, which lay crawling in lumps … about my body: yea hanging in clusters about my beard. Ibid., x. 500. Lumpes of Wals, and heapes of stones.
1781. Archer in Naval Chron., XI. 283. They [ships] drew up into a lump.
4. A protuberance, swelling or excrescence, esp. one caused by disease or injury in an animal body.
c. 1475. Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 784/16. Hec ffalaa, a lumpe of a walle.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IV. ix. 87. The lump betuix the new born folis ene.
1631. Googe’s Heresbach’s Husb. (ed. Markham), 237. The Camell with two lumpes upon the backe.
1738. [see 5 f].
1804. Med. Jrnl., XII. 320. Hard lumps appeared on the spots which had been covered by the pustules.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 894. The growths [of Xanthoma] occur either as thin flat plates … or as nodules or lumps.
Mod. I knocked my head and got a lump on my forehead.
b. Naut. (Cf. LUMPY a. 1 b.)
1857. C. Gribble in Merc. Marine Mag. (1858), V. 3. Ship … shipping heavy lumps of water on deck.
1865. Athenæum, 23 Sept., 414/1. He … chuckles over lumps of the sea.
1872. Talmage, Serm., 107. There was what sailors call ‘a big lump of a sea.’
5. Phrases with preps., belonging to the preceding senses. † a. At a lump: in one mass; in a single piece or quantity. b. By the lump (rarely by lump): = in the lump. † c. By lumps: by instalments, piecemeal. † d. In a lump: the whole together; all at once. e. In the lump (occas. † in lump): taking things as a whole without regard to detail; in the mass; in gross; wholesale. f. All of a lump: altogether, in a heap; also, swollen so as to appear one lump.
a. 1596. Bp. W. Barlow, Three Serm., iii. 113. There are men … to set out all at a lump in one day, not forethinking of an ensuing want.
1658–9. Burton’s Diary (1828), IV. 47. I shall not be against the Judges, or the officers sitting there, but not to give all things away at a lump.
1686. trans. Chardin’s Trav. Persia, 337. I propounded to him to take all at a Lump, and never to make two Bargains.
1697. trans. C’tess. D’Aunoy’s Trav. (1706), 220. This prodigious quantity of Silver, which comes all at a lump, is spread over all the World.
b. 1522. MS. Acc. St. John’s Hosp. Canterb. Paied for a certen of bryk by the lumpe of my lord of Seynt Gregorys xijd.
1699. Bentley, Phal., 383. I must now consider half a Dozen of Mr. B’s Pages by the Lump.
1737. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 277. I would not by the Lump decry any Body of People.
1760–72. trans. Juan & Ulloa’s Voy. (ed. 3), I. 283. Other species of provisions are sold by the lump, without weight or measure.
1784. R. Bage, Barham Downs, 257. ‘I accept of your conditions by the lump,’ replies the Professor.
1864. Slang Dict., Lump-work, work contracted for, or taken by the lump.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., s.v., By the lump, a sudden fall out of the slings or out of the top; altogether.
c. 1576. Gascoigne, Philomene, xviii. Common peoples love by lumpes, And fancie comes by fits.
d. 1640. Lenthall in Rushw., Hist. Coll. (1721), IV. 18. Were we not all in a lump by them intended to be offered up to Moloch?
1666. Temple, Lett. to Ld. Arlington, Wks. 1731, II. 13. Whatever his Majesty’s resolves to do, ought to be sudden, and in a Lump.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 106, ¶ 2. I … asked him, Whether he would … sell his Goods by Retail, or designed they should all go in a Lump?
1812. Examiner, 24 Aug., 542/1. If we … condemn, to use a vulgar expression, in a lump, we exasperate those whom we would wish to amend.
1825. Bentham, Ration. Reward, 154. When reward, instead of being bestowed in a lump, follows each successive portion of labour.
e. 1624. Bp. Mountagu, Immed. Addr., 133. All they … haue met with and obserued in lumpe.
1637. R. Humphrey, trans. St. Ambrose, II. 41. He chose rather to sell the corne … then to give it away in the lumpe.
1676. Towerson, Decalogue, 22. How far they were from erring … I come now to shew, and that both in the lump and the retail.
1727. Pope, etc., Art Sinking, 86. A great genius takes things in the lump, without stopping at minute considerations.
1791. Gentl. Mag., 20/1. The Whitfieldians railed at rector, curate, doctrine, service, &c. &c. all in the lump.
1848. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., II. 28. Poor human creatures … I am heartily sorry for them, severally, and in the lump.
1901. ‘A. Hope,’ Tristram of Blent, x. 117. ‘You seem to dislike the daughter too …’ ‘Oh, I take the family in the lump.’
f. c. 1681. Hickeringill, Trimmer, vi. Wks. 1716, I. 385. Answer them by lump, for they are all of a lump.
1708. Nelson, in Phil. Trans., XXVI. 141. The violence of the Thunder and Lightning … melted a Watch and the Chain all of a Lump.
1738. Swift, Pol. Conversat., 100. She must be hurt for certain … her head is all of a Lump.
1873. Routledge’s Yng. Gentl. Mag., March, 197. Oil-skin jacket and trousers,… and high boots, into which he dropped all of a lump.
6. Applied to persons. a. As a term of opprobrium: A heavy, dull person. (Cf. 1 c.)
1597. Pilgr. Parnass., I. 80. All foggie sleepers and all idle lumps.
1714. Mandeville, Fab. Bees, II. (1733), 159. What awkward Lumps have I known, which the Dancing-master has put limbs to!
1735. Dyche & Pardon, Dict., Lump,… a heavy, dull, unapprehensive Person.
c. 1800. K. White, Athanatos, 39 Poems (1830), 124. A sluggish senseless lump to lie.
1888. A. Wardrop, Poems & Sk., 202. The muckle diled lump didna like to spoil the nicht’s performance.
b. A big sturdy creature. ? dial.
1630. R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., IV. 509. He being a corpulent man presumed to follow his pleasures … At last, this lumpe was extinguished.
1842. S. Lover, Handy Andy, viii. 76. They were comely lumps of girls.
1879. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., Lump, a good-sized child…. ‘How big are your children?’ ‘Oh, they bin lumps.’
1887. Hall Caine, Deemster, xx. When we were lumps of lads.
7. Technical senses.
a. A bloom or loop of malleable iron.
[1686, etc.: see LOOP sb.4 1.]
1875. in Knight, Dict. Mech.
b. A kind of paving brick or tile (see quot. 1881).
1787. W. Marshall, Norfolk (1795), II. 383. Lumps, barn-floor bricks.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Cottage, etc. Archit., § 599. The Welsh or Stourbridge lumps at the sides should form with those of the back an angle of forty-five degrees or upwards.
1881. Young, Every Man his own Mechanic, § 1224. ‘Lumps’ which are thicker than tiles range in size from 12 in. to 36 in.
c. A barge or lighter used in dockyards.
1796. Lond. Chron., 2 June, 528. A lump from the dockyard has this moment conveyed three new cables on an end to the Hind.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Lumps,… dockyard barges.
1867. in Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.
d. In firearms: (a) The nipple-seat on a gun-barrel; (b) ‘In a break-joint breech-loader, an iron block on the barrel which descends into a recess in the action’ (Cent. Dict.).
1844. Regul. & Ord. Army, 106. A new lump for swivel, brazed and fitted on carbine.
1875. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, I. I. ii. § 1. 27. The accident which sometimes occurs when from defective brazing the barrels and the lump part company.
1881. Greener, Gun, 198. A steel lump placed underneath the barrels, which engages in the face of the breech-action when the gun is closed.
e. Calico woven in long lengths.
1897. Textile Stocks & Ex. Gaz., 25 Oct. 150 lumps 9/8 Shirtings.
f. Mining, S. Staffordsh. (See quot.)
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, Lumps, coal of largest size by one.
8. attrib. and Comb.: lump-account, an account in which items are ‘lumped’ together without particulars or details; lump-coal (see quot. 1881); † lump cotton, some species of cotton plant, prob. Gossypium barbadense; lump gold, gold in nuggets; † lump-love, ? cupboard-love; lump stone (see quot.); lump sugar, loaf sugar broken into lumps or cut into cubes; lump sum, a sum that covers or includes a number of items; lump work, work that is contracted for ‘in the lump.’
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Dutch Reckoning,… a verbal or *Lump-account without particulars.
1877. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 288. The combustion is far more perfect than can be brought about with *lump-coal. Ibid. (1881), Mining Gloss., s.v. Coal, Lump [coal] includes the largest lumps as they come from the mine.
1640. Parkinson, Theat. Bot., 1552. Gossipium, The Cotton tree or plant … 2 Gossipium frutescens annum [sic]. The bush of *lumpe Cotton.
1657. W. Coles, Adam in Eden, clxxiv. The bush of lump cotton … riseth out of the ground with an upright stemme.
1898. Daily News, 28 Jan., 5/7. Where it crosses the creeks, *lump gold is plentiful.
17[?]. Old Song (N.). Now he ate, and he drank, and he kiss’d, and he toy’d, And all the delights of *lump-love he enjoy’d.
1829. Glover’s Hist. Derby, I. 91. There are lamellar gritstone of this class, capable of sustaining great heat; these are formed into round plates, called pye, pot, or *lump stones, and are used in the iron forges.
1657. R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 95. Making it into whites, which is that we call *Lump-Sugar in England.
1731. P. Shaw, Three Ess. Artif. Philos., 31. The Art of refining Sugar into the different kinds of Clay’d, Lump, Loaf, &c.
1854. Dickens, Hard T., II. vi. 184. The bread was new and crusty, the butter fresh, and the sugar lump.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Lump sum, a full payment of arrears, and not by periodical instalments of money.
1883. T. Hardy, in Longm. Mag., July, 266. He … receives a lump sum of 2l. or 3l. for harvest work.
1900. J. T. Fowler, in Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 729. The rents of each place are entered in a lump sum.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour (1864), II. 373/2. The natural tendency is for piece-work to pass into *lump-work. Ibid., 374/2. ‘Lump’ work, ‘piece’ work, work by ‘the job,’ are all portions of the contract system. The principle is the same.
1892. Star, 17 March, 3/3. There are three systems of payment—day work, piece work, and lump work; and lump work is the curse of the lot.
