clump
noun
- gather into a cluster
verb
- walk clumsily and heavily
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /klʌmp/
noun
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.
- A cluster or lump; an unshaped piece or mass.
- A thick group or bunch, especially of bushes or hair.
“There are suitable clumps of gorse a little way back, sir. I anticipate that you would be quite safe there, or I would not suggest it, sir.”
“clump of trees”
- A dull thud.
“She [Miss Climpson] asks questions which a young man could not put without a blush. She is the angel that rushes in where fools get a clump on the head.”
“Thus, the myths of cinema and syndicated cartoon have served to unite the diverse races far more than the clump of the cricket-ball and the clipped rebukes and laudations of their masters.”
- The compressed clay of coal strata.
“clump-burned bricks”
- A small group of trees or plants.
- A thick addition to the sole of a shoe.
verb
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.
- To form clusters or lumps.
- To gather in dense groups.
- To walk with heavy footfalls.
- To strike; to beat.
“There is his poor little cap hanging up on the door; and there on the table is the knife he chipped a piece out of through not minding the mark on the knife machine, and I clumped his head for him, poor lamb!”