lump

plural lumps

1. Something that protrudes, sticks out, or sticks together; a cluster or blob; a mound or mass of no particular shape.

   Stir the gravy until there are no more lumps.

   1 more example

   a lump of coal; a lump of clay; a lump of cheese

2. A swelling or nodule of tissue under the skin or in an internal part of the body.

   Lumps in the breasts are an indicator of breast cancer.

3. A group, set, or unit.

   The money arrived all at once as one big lump sum payment.

4. A small, shaped mass of sugar, typically about a teaspoonful.

   Do you want one lump or two with your coffee?

5. A dull or lazy person.

   Don't just sit there like a lump.

   1 more example

   "Thou great Norman lump!" he muttered. "If I conjure till Doomsday, I cannot make thee gold."

   1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 7

6. A fat person.
7. informalA beating or verbal abuse.

   He's taken his lumps over the years.

   2 more examples

   Komer admitted that the United States would probably suffer "short term lumps" as a result of Johnson's brusque decision.

   1994, Robert J. McMahon, The cold war on the periphery: the United States, India, and Pakistan, page 323

   Mr. Katzenberg is now taking his commensurate lumps, particularly because contributors feel he helped disabuse donors’ concerns about Mr. Biden’s physical state.

   2024 July 11, Theodore Schleifer, Jacob Bernstein, Reid J. Epstein, “How Biden Lost George Clooney and Hollywood”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

8. A projection beneath the breech end of a gun barrel.
9. A kind of fish, the lumpsucker.

   You roast him [the fish] […] just like a lump.

   1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard

10. obsoleteslangFood given to a tramp to be eaten on the road.

    “A lump,” explained The Whimperer […] “is wot a kin’ lady slips youse w’en youse batter de back door. If she invites youse in and lets youse t’row yer feet unner de table, it’s a set-down. If she slips youse a lunch in a poiper bag, it’s a lump. See? […]”

    1923, Arthur Preston Hankins, chapter 12, in Cole of Spyglass Mountain, New York: Grosset & Dunlap

11. obsoleteslangThe workhouse.

present singular third person lumps · participle present lumping · participle past lumped · past lumped

1. transitiveTo treat as a single unit; to group together in a casual or chaotic manner (as if forming an ill-defined lump of the items).

   People tend to lump turtles and tortoises together, when in fact they are different creatures.

   2 more examples

   Most gays don't want to know about us, so lumping us in their support efforts is counter-productive at best.

   1996 September, V. Maulsby, “The Importance of Outside Commnication to the Transgendered Inmate”, in Gay Community News, page 31

   Pellegrini’s decision to operate with both Edin Dzeko and Agüero in attack certainly looks misjudged bearing in mind that the first way to stop Barcelona is usually to try to crowd midfield and restrict space. Yet it would be wrong to lump all the blame on the manager’s tactics.

   2015 February 24, Daniel Taylor, “Luis Suárez strikes twice as Barcelona teach Manchester City a lesson”, in The Guardian (London)

2. transitiveTo bear (a heavy or awkward burden); to carry (something unwieldy) from one place to another.

   I never ceased to be amazed at his prowess at being able to lump two-hundredweight sacks of coal, which seemed as big as he was, up perhaps four flights of narrow stairs

   1999, Alf Goldberg, World's End for Sir Oswald: Portraits of Working-class Life in Pre-war London, Book Guild, →ISBN

   1 more example

   Well, a male body was brought to a certain surgeon by a man he had often employed, and the pair lumped it down on the dissecting table, and then the vendor received his money and went.

   1876, Belgravia, volume 30, page 131

3. transitiveTo burden (someone) with an undesired task or responsibility.

   1 more example

   The Luftwaffe, at this point, was still refusing to play ball completely, however. But someone decided to lump Adolf Galland with command of the air operation, and he decided to work with Luftflotte 3, mobilizing their training units to make up the numbers, since large numbers of that particular formation's fighters had been diverted to the campaign in Russia, which was why the fighter numbers were so much lower than they had been the previous year.

   2019 January 9, Drachinifel, 15:17 from the start, in The Channel Dash / Operation Cerberus - How to win through refuge in audacity, archived from the original on 24 Jul 2022

4. slangtransitiveTo hit or strike (a person).

   If that's the only way you can fight, then you'd better be prepared to get lumped.

   1962, Floyd Patterson, Victory Over Myself, page 63

5. intransitiveTo form a lump or lumps.

   Thin the paint with mineral spirits for a medium consistency so that it will not drip or lump.

   2004, Creative Gifts: Quick & Easy Projects, page 44