plunge
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /plʌnd͡ʒ/
rhymes: -ʌndʒ
Forms: form: plunges
form: plunging
form: plunged
form: plunged
Etymology: From Middle English plungen, ploungen, Anglo-Norman plungier, from Old French plongier, (Modern French plonger), from unattested Late Latin frequentative *plumbicō (“to throw a leaded line”), from plumbum (“lead”). Compare plumb, plounce.
Senses: examples: text: to plunge the body into water
text: "Most of them don't wash. Those who do usually plunge their head into some brook or rill, if there happens to be one about."
ref: 1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 53:
glosses: To thrust into liquid, or into any penetrable substance; to immerse.
examples: text: to plunge a dagger into the breast
text: to plunge a nation into war
text: the city was plunged into darkness
text: Jon isn’t lying when he tells her she will always be his queen, right before plunging a knife into her. He genuinely swore obedience, and sees himself as a traitor when he commits the deeds.
ref: 2019 May 19, Alex McLevy, “The final Game Of Thrones brings a pensive but simple meditation about stories (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 22 May 2019:
glosses: To cast, stab or throw deep and fast into some thing, state, condition or action.
glosses: To baptize by immersion.
examples: text: he plunged into the river
glosses: To dive, leap or rush (into water or some liquid); to submerge oneself.
examples: text: to plunge into debt
text: to plunge into controversy
text: profits plunge 90%
text: The day was cool and snappy for August, and the Rise all green with a lavish nature. Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet:[…].
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
text: Target reported profit plunged 90% in the second quarter, falling far short of expectations, as inflation-weary customers pulled back on spending on nonessential items.
ref: 2022 August 17, Chris Isidore, “Target profit plunges 90% as inflation-weary shoppers pull back”, in CNN:
glosses: To fall or rush headlong into some thing, action, state or condition.
examples: text: [N]ature affects a looſe kinde of liberty, vvhich it cannot indure to have reſtrained: neither fares it othervviſe vvith it, then vvith ſome vvilde colt; which at the firſt taking up, flings and plunges, and vvill ſtand on no ground; but after it hath been ſomvvhile diſciplin'd at the Poſt, is grovvn tractable, and quietly ſubmits either to the ſaddle, or the collar: […]
ref: 1648, J[oseph] Hall, chapter LXXXVI, in Select Thoughts: Or, Choice Helps for a Pious Spirit. […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Brooke, […], published 1654, →OCLC, pages 249–250:
glosses: To pitch or throw oneself headlong or violently forward, as a horse does.
glosses: To bet heavily and recklessly; to risk large sums in gambling.
examples: text: Plunged and gravelled with three lines of Seneca.
ref: 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To entangle or embarrass (mostly used in past participle).
glosses: To overwhelm, overpower.
Derived terms: implunge
plungeable
plunge bath
plunge bra
plunge in
plunge into
plunge pool
plunge waterfall
polar bear plunge
replunge
take the plunge
unplunge
unplunged