lumpish

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English

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WOTD – 28 March 2024

Etymology

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Partly:

Compare English lumber.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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lumpish (comparative more lumpish, superlative most lumpish)

  1. Having an ill-defined or rough form or shape like a lump; lumplike.
    Synonym: lumpen
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 43, page 15:
      The Sprite […] lifting vp his lompiſh head, vvth blame / Halfe angrie asked him, for vvhat he came.
    • 1794, Uvedale Price, chapter IX, in An Essay on the Picturesque, as Compared with the Sublime and the Beautiful; […], volume I, London: […] J. Robson, […], →OCLC, page 161:
      It ſeems to me that mere unmixed uglineſs does not ariſe from ſharp angles, or from any ſudden variation, but rather from that want of form, that unſhapen lumpiſh appearance, vvhich, perhaps, no one vvord exactly expreſſes; a quality that never can be miſtaken for beauty, never can adorn it, and vvhich is equally unconnected vvith the ſublime and the pictureſque.
    • 1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Spring”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 328:
      Thus, also, you pass from the lumpish grub in the earth to the airy and fluttering butterfly.
    • 2015 December 16, Jason Farago, “The best American art shows of 2015”, in The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-10-06:
      The lumpish, irregular totems crafted by this American sculptor [Rachel Harrison] were outfitted here with that most contemporary and most loathsome of accessories: the selfie stick.
  2. (figurative)
    1. Awkward and ungainly in appearance or movement; clumsy, inelegant.
    2. Dull and slow in acting, thinking, etc.; without energy; cloddish, lethargic, slow-witted, sluggish.
      Synonyms: loggish; see also Thesaurus:stupid
      Antonyms: see Thesaurus:intelligent
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 61, page 461:
        So forth he vvent, / VVith heauy looke and lumpiſh pace, that plaine / In him bevvraid great grudge and maltalent; / His ſteed eke ſeemd t'apply his ſteps to his intent.
      • 1601–1602 (date written), attributed to Thomas Dekker and/or Thomas Middleton, Blurt Master-Constable. Or The Spaniards Night-walke. […], London: […] [Edward Allde] for Henry Rockytt, […], published 1602, →OCLC, signature C3, recto:
        [A] ſong I prethee, I loue theſe French moouings; oh they are ſo cleane if you treade them true, you ſhal hit them to a haire; ſing, ſing, ſing ſome odde and fantaſticall thing, for I cannot abide these dull and lumpiſh tunes, the Muſition ſtands longer a pricking them then I vvould doe to heare them: no, no, no, giue mee your light ones, that goe nimbly and quicke, and are full of changes, and carrie ſvveet deuiſion […]
      • 1660, John Ball, “[How These Things are to bee Applied upon the Heart and Pressed upon the Soul]”, in A Treatise of Divine Meditation, London: […] H. Mortlock [for Simeon Ashe], […], →OCLC, page 149:
        But I have greatly neglected the knovvledge of God, vvhen hee threatneth, I am ſenſeleſs; in his preſence, I am irreverent, dead-hearted vvhen I appear before him; lumpiſh in Prayer, looſe in Meditation […]
      • 1693 (date written), D. F. [pseudonym; Daniel Defoe], “Of Academies”, in An Essay upon Projects, London: […] R. R. for Tho[mas] Cockerill, […], published 1697, →OCLC, page 293:
        The vvhole Sex are generally Quick and Sharp: I believe I may be allovv'd to ſay generally ſo; for you rarely ſee them lumpiſh and heavy vvhen they are Children, as Boys vvill often be.
      • 1709, Alexander Pope, “January and May; or, The Merchant’s Tale, from Chaucer”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC, page 223:
        The lumpiſh husband ſnoar'd avvay the night, / Till coughs avvak'd him near the morning light.
      • 1777 October 8 (date written), Edmund Burke, “Letter to the Honourable Charles James Fox”, in [Walker King], editor, The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, new edition, volume IX, London: […] [R. Gilbert] for C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], published 1826, →OCLC, page 150:
        The greatest number have a sort of an heavy, lumpish acquiescence in Government, without much respect or esteem for those, that compose it.
      • 1933 September, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The London Conference: The Crowning Failure of the Old Governments; the Spread of Dictatorships and Fascisms”, in The Shape of Things to Come, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, 2nd book (The Days after Tomorrow: The Age of Frustration), page 114:
        The Common People became therefore a mystical sympathetic being, essentially a God, whose altar was the hustings and whose oracle the ballot box. A little slow and lumpish was this God of the Age of European Predominance, but, though his mills ground slowly, men were assured that they ground with ultimate exactitude.
      • 1936 April 20, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter VII, in Keep the Aspidistra Flying, uniform edition, London: Secker & Warburg, published 1954, →OCLC, page 176:
        He felt horribly ashamed. He would have liked to throw himself on his knees beside her, put his arms round her, and ask her pardon. But he could do nothing of the kind; the scene had left him lumpish and awkward.
    3. Of sound: dull, heavy.
      • 1742, Henry Fielding, “Containing as Surprizing and Bloody Adventures as can be Found in This, or perhaps any Other Authentic History”, in The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. […], volume II, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book III, page 98:
        The uplifted Hanger dropped from his Hand, and he fell proſtrate on the Floor vvith a lumpiſh Noiſe, and his Halfpence rattled in his Pocket; the red Liquor vvhich his Veins contained, and the vvhite Liquor vvhich the Pot contained, ran in one Stream dovvn his Face and his Clothes.
      • a. 1765 (date written), Robert Lloyd, “Ode to Genius”, in The Poetical Works of Robert Lloyd, A.M. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Evans […], published 1774, →OCLC, page 174:
        Thou bear'ſt aloof, and look'ſt vvith high diſdain, / Upon the dull mechanic train; / VVhoſe nerveleſs ſtrains flag on in languid tone, / Lifeless and lumpiſh as the bagpipe's drovvzy drone.
      • 1862, [William] Wilkie Collins, chapter I, in No Name. […], volume I, London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co., […], →OCLC, 1st scene (Combe-Raven, Somesetshire), page 3:
        No sounds but the steady ticking of the clock, and the lumpish snoring of a large dog stretched on a mat outside the dining-room door, disturbed the mysterious morning stillness of hall and staircase.
  3. (obsolete)
    1. Full of lumps; lumpy.
    2. Of a thing: having a shape and/or weight which makes it inconvenient to move; cumbersome, unwieldy.
    3. (figurative) Miserable, sad.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sad
      Antonyms: see Thesaurus:happy
      • 1534 (date written; published 1553), Thomas More, “A Dyalogue of Comforte agaynste Tribulacyon, […]. XVI. Of Hym that were Moued to Kyl Himself by Illusion of the Dyuel, which He Rekened for a Reuelation.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, pages 1195–1196:
        He [the Devil] marketh well […] mennes complexions within thẽ [them], health, or ſicknes, good humours or badde, by which they be light hearted or lumpiſh, ſtrong hearted, or faynt & fieble of ſpirite, bolde and hardy, or timorous and fearefull of courage.
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 18, page 581:
        After them vvent Diſpleaſure and Pleaſaunce, / He looking lompiſh and full ſullein ſad, / And hanging dovvne his heauy countenaunce; / She chearfull freſh and full of ioyaunce glad, / As if no ſorrovv ſhe ne felt ne dread; […]
      • c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 32, column 1:
        Vpon this vvarrant, ſhall you haue acceſſe, / VVhere you, vvith Siluia, may conferre at large. / For ſhe is lumpiſh, heauy, mellancholy, / And (for your friends ſake) vvill be glad of you; / VVhere you may temper her, by your perſvvaſion, / To hate yong Valentine, and loue my friend.
      • 1712 November 4 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “FRIDAY, October 24, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 518; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 12:
        [Y]ou must be extremely well apprised, that there is a very close correspondence between the outward and in the inward man; […] a contracted brow, a lumpish downcast look, a sober sedate pace, with both hands dangling quiet and steady in lines exactly parallel to each lateral pocket of his galligaskins, is logic, metaphysics, and mathematics, in perfection.
        The spelling has been modernized.
      • 1741, [Samuel Richardson], “The Journal Continued. [Monday.]”, in Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded. […], 3rd edition, volume II, London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […]; and J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 35:
        I felt ſomething ſo ſtrange, and my Heart vvas ſo lumpiſh!— […] I'll take thee, O lumpiſh, contradictory, ungovernable Heart, to ſevere Taſk for this thy ſtrange Impulſe, vvhen I get to my dear Father's and Mother's; and if I find any thing in thee that ſhould not be, depend upon it, thou ſhalt be humbled, if ſtrict Abſtinence, Prayer and Mortification, vvill do it!

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “lumprissh, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “lumpe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. ^ “lumpred, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. ^ “-ish, suf.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. ^ “lumpish, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “lumpish, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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