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clump

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clump

  • /klʌmp/

Rhymes with -ʌmp

Where it comes from

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.

noun clumps

  1. A cluster or lump; an unshaped piece or mass.
  2. collective 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.
  3. collective A small group of trees or other plants growing together.
  4. 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.
  5. The compressed clay of coal strata. clump-burned bricks
  6. historical A thick addition to the sole of a shoe.

verb clumps · clumping · clumped

  1. ambitransitive To form clusters or lumps.
  2. ambitransitive To gather in dense groups.
  3. intransitive To walk with heavy footfalls.
  4. UK, regional, transitive 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!

Translations

Every language

noun cluster

Españolgrumo
Portuguêsagrupamento, amontoado, amontoados pl or, montoeira sg or, montoeiras pl or, montão
Françaisamas
DeutschKlumpen
Русскийглыба glyba, ком kom

noun thick group

Españolmatorral, mechón
Françaistouffe
DeutschBüschel
Русскийклок klok, заросли zarosli

noun a small group of trees or plants

Françaismassif

noun dull thud

Españolplop
DeutschPlumps

verb form a cluster

Españolamontonar

verb gather in dense groups

Españolamontonar

verb walk with heavy footfalls

Españolmarchar
Deutschtrappen, trapsen

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"clump." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/clump. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

APA

clump. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/clump

Chicago

"clump." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 5, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/clump.

BibTeX
@misc{clump_2026,
  title = {clump},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/clump},
  urldate = {2026-11-05}
}