Trump

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trump¹

  • /tɹʌmp/
  • [t͡ʃɹʌmp]

Sounds like Trump · Rhymes with -ʌmp

Where it comes from

Possibly from French triomphe (“triumph”) or Old French triumphe. If so, it is a doublet of triumph and thriambus. Compare German Trumpf.

noun trumps

  1. The suit, in a game of cards, that outranks all others. Diamonds were declared trump(s).
  2. A playing card of that suit. He played an even higher trump.
  3. figuratively Something that gives one an advantage, especially one held in reserve. VVere Iacke Strawe a liue againe, And I in as good poſſibility as euer I was, I would lay a ſurer trumpe, Ere I would loſe ſo faire a tricke.
  4. archaic, colloquial An excellent person; a fine fellow, a good egg. [W]e permitted no hostile foot to pass over or desecrate his resting place; shall be that which to learn the last trump shall awaken our WASHINGTON.
  5. An old card game, almost identical to whist; the game of ruff. There be many one that breaketh this carde,[…]and playeth there with oftentimes at the blinde trompe, wherby they be no winners but great losers
  6. A card of the major arcana of the tarot.

verb trumps · trumping · trumped

  1. transitive To play on (a card of another suit) with a trump. He knew the hand was lost when his ace was trumped.
  2. intransitive To play a trump, or to take a trick with a trump.
  3. transitive To get the better of, or finesse, a competitor. to trick or trump mankind
  4. dated, transitive To impose unfairly; to palm off. Authors have been trumped upon us.
  5. transitive To supersede. In this election, it would seem issues of national security trumped economic issues.
  6. transitive To outweigh; be stronger, greater, bigger than or in other way superior to.

Similar: ruff, clown, cheat

trump²

  • /tɹʌmp/
  • [t͡ʃɹʌmp]

Sounds like Trump · Rhymes with -ʌmp

Where it comes from

From Middle English trumpe, trompe (“trumpet”), from Old French trompe (“horn, trump, trumpet”), from Frankish *trumpa (“trumpet”), from a common Germanic word of imitative origin. Doublet of tulumba and tromp.

Akin to Old High German trumpa, trumba (“horn, trumpet”), Middle Dutch tromme (“drum”), Middle Low German trumme (“drum”). More at trumpet, drum.

noun trumps

  1. archaic A trumpet. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible
  2. UK, colloquial A fart.
  3. The noise made by an elephant through its trunk.

verb trumps · trumping · trumped

  1. To blow a trumpet.
  2. UK, colloquial, intransitive To fart. And without warning me, as he lay there, he suddenly trumped next to me in bed.

trump³

  • /tɹʌmp/
  • [t͡ʃɹʌmp]

Sounds like Trump · Rhymes with -ʌmp

Where it comes from

Ellipsis of Jew's-trump, which may be from French jeu-trompe (literally “toy trumpet”).

noun trumps

  1. dated Synonym of Jew's harp.

Trump⁴

  • /tɹʌmp/ UK

Sounds like trump · Rhymes with -ʌmp

Where it comes from

The surname has two sources.

* English (Devon): an occupational name for a trumpeter, from Middle English trumpe (“trumpet”).

* German (Bavaria): from German Trump, possibly an occupational name for a drummer, from Middle High German trumbe (“drum”), although the alternative forms Trumpf, Drumpf cannot be derived from this (except by postulating them to be hypercorrections)

* The place in Baltimore county was named after settler Simeon Van Trump.

proper noun Trumps

  1. countable, uncountable A surname. The house at which he was to lodge had been selected with considerable judgment. It was kept by a tidy old widow known as Mrs. Trump; but those who knew any thing of Hamworth affairs were well aware that Mrs. Trump had been left without a shilling, and could not have taken that snug little house in
  2. countable, uncountable A surname from English.
  3. countable, uncountable A surname from German.
  4. countable, uncountable Donald Trump (b. 1946), a businessman, television personality, and current president of the United States of America (2017–2021, 2025–present). During their interview, Shahidi asked Clinton about the uncomfortable second presidential debate, during which Trump stalked her around the stage.
  5. countable, uncountable A ghost town in Park County, Colorado, United States.
  6. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States.

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