plunge

Formsplunges, plunging, plunged

Pluralplunges

1. 1
   verbintransitive

   To go into water or another liquid suddenly, by diving, jumping, or rushing in, so that one is submerged.

   Swimmers plunge into the icy river during the winter festival.

   She plunged beneath the waves and disappeared from view.

   Similardive, jump, leap, dip, submerge

   Oppositesurface, emerge

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To thrust something into a liquid, or into any substance it can pierce; to immerse it.

   Plunge the thermometer into the center of the roast.

   She plunged her arms into the cold stream to cool off.

   Similarthrust, immerse, dip, sink, submerge

   Note

   The literal sense, and the one the word's history explains best. Old French plongier goes back to a reconstructed Late Latin verb for throwing a leaded line, from plumbum, "lead," the same root as plumb. A sounding weight drops straight down and under, and that is the motion here: something is pushed into water or a yielding substance, not merely dipped. A head, hands or a whole body are typical objects.

3. 3
   verbfigurativelyintransitive

   To fall or rush headlong into a situation, action, state, or condition.

   He plunged into despair after losing everything he owned.

   Investors who plunge into untested markets often regret it.

   Similarsink, fall, descend, dive, rush

   Note

   People and things can rush into trouble on their own: they plunge into debt or controversy. Headlines use the verb for sudden falls in figures (profits plunge 90%), where it sounds steeper and more alarming than fell or dropped. It can also mean simply moving into a place, as when the American novelist Winston Churchill's The Celebrity (1897) has its riders plunge into a deep shade.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A dive, leap, rush, or pitch headlong down into water.

   The diver's plunge sent up a tall column of spray.

   After the sauna, guests take an icy plunge in the river.

   Similardive, dip, leap, jump

5. 5
   verbfigurativelytransitive

   To cast or throw someone or something swiftly and deeply into a state, condition, or action.

   The crisis plunged thousands of families into debt.

   His decision could plunge the whole region into conflict.

   Similarthrow, push, drive, send, cast

   Note

   Here someone drives a thing hard and far, and it can be a weapon or a whole people: a dagger into a breast, a nation into war. The pattern is always plunge + object + into. The passive is especially common (the city was plunged into darkness), often with no one named as the pusher. The intransitive "rush headlong" meaning makes the same journey with no one doing the pushing.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   The act of plunging or sinking down into something.

   The diver prepared for her plunge into the deep trench.

   A sudden plunge in the elevator made the passengers gasp.

   Similardrop, dive, fall, descent, plummet

   Oppositerise, climb, ascent

7. 7
   verbtransitive

   To clear a blocked pipe, drain, or toilet by forcing suction with a plunger.

   She plunged the clogged drain for several minutes.

   Plunge the toilet firmly to dislodge the blockage.

   Similarunclog, unblock, clear

   Oppositeclog, block

   Note

   A separate word that only shares the spelling. It was formed backward from plunger, the household suction tool, not from the old verb for thrusting things under water. Its objects are fixtures such as a toilet or a drain, and it is transitive: you plunge the toilet, not into it. The motion is a repeated push and pull, not a single dive.

8. 8
   verbintransitive

   To lunge forward wildly and headfirst, as a horse sometimes does.

   The colt plunged and reared against the unfamiliar saddle.

   When startled, the horses plunge forward without warning.

   Similarbuck, lunge, lurch, pitch

   Note

   The motion of an unbroken horse: a violent lunge forward that often comes alongside flinging and rearing. Joseph Hall's Select Thoughts (1648) compares unruly human nature to a wild colt that, at first taking up, "flings and plunges, and will stand on no ground." The image of restless resistance to the bridle is what gives the verb its force here.

9. 9
   nounfigurativelycountable

   A headlong, violent forward pitch of the body, like that of an unruly horse.

   The boat gave a sudden plunge as the wave struck.

   Each plunge of the bucking bronco drew gasps from the crowd.

   Similarlurch, pitch, lunge, heave, buck

10. 10
    verbslangintransitive

    To bet heavily and recklessly, risking large sums of money in gambling.

    He plunged on the final race, staking everything he had.

    Gamblers who plunge without limits rarely walk away ahead.

    Similargamble, bet, wager, speculate, punt

    Note

    Gambling slang for staking far too much, where the bettor goes in head first like the headlong rush into trouble. Because it is slang, it suits racing talk and lively narrative better than plain reporting, where bet heavily is the safer choice. A matching noun names the reckless wager itself.

11. 11
    nounslangcountable

    Heavy, reckless betting in horse racing; hazardous financial speculation.

    The bookmakers still remembered his famous plunge on a single race.

    Her plunge into mining shares ended in heavy losses.

    Similargamble, bet, punt, wager, speculation

    Note

    The noun for the reckless wager carries the same slang flavor as the verb. It began on the racecourse and widened to any hazardous speculation, such as a plunge in shares or a doubtful venture. Plunger is close to it in meaning, but do not confuse that word with the rubber cup behind the drain-clearing verb.

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