Plunge

Pronunciation

• IPA: /plÊŒndÊ’/
• Rhymes: -ÊŒndÊ’

Origin

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.

Full definition of plunge

Noun

1. the act of plunging or submerging
2. a dive, leap, rush, or pitch into (into water)to take the water with a plungeplunge 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

Verb

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
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 8, 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:....
• 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.
• Joseph Hall (1574-1656)some wild colt, which ... flings and plunges
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).
• Thomas Browne (1605-1682)Plunged and gravelled with three lines of Seneca.
9. (intransitive, obsolete) To overwhelm, overpower.

Anagrams

• pungle