plunge

From Middle English plungen, ploungen, Anglo-Norman plungier, from Old French plongier, (Modern French plonger), from unattested Late Latin frequentative to throw a leaded line, from plumbum (“lead”). Compare plumb, plounce.

• IPA^(key): /plʌndʒ/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ʌndʒ

plunge (third-person singular simple present plunges, present participle plunging, simple past and past participle plunged)

1. (transitive) To thrust into water, or into any substance that is penetrable; to immerse.

   to plunge the body into water

2. (figuratively, transitive) To cast or throw into some thing, state, condition or action.

   to plunge a dagger into the breast;   to plunge a nation into war

3. (transitive, obsolete) To baptize by immersion.
4. (intransitive) To dive, leap or rush (into water or some liquid); to submerge oneself.

   he plunged into the river

5. (figuratively, intransitive) To fall or rush headlong into some thing, action, state or condition.

   to plunge into debt;   to plunge into controversy

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:

     The day was cool and snappy for August, and the Rise all green with a lavish nature. Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: […] .

   • 1989, David Gale, The Theory of Linear Economic Models:

     Before asking the reader to plunge into the subject of linear models I shall, in accordance with a sensible custom, attempt in the few pages which follow to give some idea of what this subject is.

6. (intransitive) To pitch or throw oneself headlong or violently forward, as a horse does.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Joseph Hall

     some wild colt, which […] flings and plunges

7. (intransitive, slang) To bet heavily and recklessly; to risk large sums in gambling.
8. (intransitive, obsolete) To entangle or embarrass (mostly used in past participle).
   • (Can we date this quote?) Thomas Browne

     Plunged and gravelled with three lines of Seneca.

9. (intransitive, obsolete) To overwhelm, overpower.

plunge (plural plunges)

1. the act of plunging or submerging
2. a dive, leap, rush, or pitch into (into water)

   to take the water with a plunge

   A plunge into the sea

3. (dated) A swimming pool
4. (figuratively) the act of pitching or throwing oneself headlong or violently forward, like an unruly horse
5. (slang) heavy and reckless betting in horse racing; hazardous speculation
6. (obsolete) an immersion in difficulty, embarrassment, or distress; the condition of being surrounded or overwhelmed; a strait; difficulty

• plunge in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “plunge”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

• pungle