lumpily

comparative more lumpily · superlative most lumpily

1. In a lumpy manner, with lumps.

   An hour later, he had paid about $3.25, been talked through the workings of a small bank of stainless-steel machines, and was leaving with a bag of fluffy if lumpily folded clothes.

   2011 February 1, Stephanie Nolen, “India makes a clean start with first laundromat”, in The Globe and Mail

   1 more example

   I had no idea that anything in the shape of a horse could be so limp as that, either living or dead. His wild mane hung down lumpily, a mere mass of inanimate horsehair; his aggressive ears had collapsed, but as he went swaying slowly across the front of the bridge I noticed an astute gleam in his dreamy, half-closed eye.

   1912, Joseph Conrad, chapter 4, in A Personal Record

2. Like a lump; awkwardly, heavily, ponderously.

   He'd stuck his hands in his pockets as I came in, and he sat down lumpily in his chair.

   1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “chapter 4”, in The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC

   3 more examples

   “You’ll feel better when you’ve drunk this’m,” said the parlourmaid lumpily, pouring out some tea.

   1922, Arnold Bennett, Lilian, Part IV, Chapter 1

   What ever became of the chaos in Laos? Last year at this time the pro-Communist Pathet Lao were strutting lumpily across the Plain of Jars in their dun-colored uniforms, proudly triumphant over the “neutralist” forces of General Kong Le and threatening to overrun the entire country.

   1965 June 11, “The Silent Sideshow”, in Time

   This extraordinary life probably needed a solidly presented non-fiction film; what we have here is an odd and lumpily constructed drama-doc with daytime-telly production values, featuring some very hammy acting and direction.

   2015 December 3, Peter Bradshaw, “The Honourable Rebel review – lustrous life of an aristo adventuress”, in The Guardian