subs. (old).—A blow.—GROSE (1785). Also PLUMPER.
1772. BRIDGES, A Burlesque Translation of Homer, 378.
| Gave me a PLUMPER on the jaw, | |
| And cry’d: Pox take you! |
Adj. and adv. (old: now recognised).—1. Exactly; downright; quite. Also as verb. = to meet in more or less violent contact; and PLUMPLY (or PLUMP AND PLAIN) = without reserve, roundly.
1535. COVERDALE, trans. Bible [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 441. We see ‘The waters PLUMPED together’; hence our ‘going PLUMP INTO a thing.’]
1614. BEAUMONT and FLETCHER, Wit at Several Weapons, i. 1.
| The art of swimming, he that will attain to’t | |
| Must fall PLUMP, and duck himself at first. |
1778. BURNEY, Evelina, lv. PLUMP we comes against a cart, with such a jogg it almost pulled the coach-wheel off.
2. (old: now recognised).—Fat, full, fleshy.—GROSE (1785). Hence, PLUMP IN THE POCKET = with plenty of money; WARM (q.v.).
Verb. (political).—1. To record a whole- (i.e., an unsplit-) vote. Whence PLUMPER = (1) the voter and (2) the vote. Also (racing) = to back one horse; and (general)—‘to put all one’s eggs in one basket.’—GROSE (1785).
1871–2. G. ELIOT, Middlemarch, li. Mr. Brooke’s success must depend either on PLUMPERS, or on the new minting of Tory votes into reforming votes.
1885. Westminster Review [Century]. They refused to exercise their right of electing local members, and PLUMPED for Earl Grey himself in 1848.
2. (old).—To strike; to shoot.—GROSE (1785).
3. See adj. and adv., sense 1.
