▪ I. tump, n.
(tʌmp)
Also 6 tumpe, 7 toompe, tomp.
[Not found before end of 16th c.; chiefly a western and w. midl. word; see Eng. Dial. Dict.; origin obscure.
Also in Welsh twmp (cf. Buttington Tump in Montgomeryshire); but this may be from English. Welsh has also Twmpath (in Mabinogion twympath), ‘a clump or tuft of rough grass, a barrow or tumulus’, etc., with which cf. tumpet in Eng. Dial. Dict.]
1. A hillock, mound, a mole-hill, or ant-hill; a barrow, tumulus. local.
| 1589 Nashe Martins Months M. 53 They brought him vnawares to a dunghill, taking it for a tumpe, since a Tombe might not be had. 1603 Owen Pembrokeshire (1892) 84 note, No traces remained..but highe and rounde toompes of earth. Ibid. 283 Tomps of erth. 1664 Evelyn Pomona vi. (1729) 71 To raise Tumps, or temporary Banks in the midst of an Inclosure. 1763 J. Hutchins in Mem. W. Stukeley (Surtees) II. 133 On the top of the hill..are small tumps. 1829 E. Jesse Jrnl. Nat. 313 Cutting up anthills, or tumps, as we call them. 1881 Freeman in Life & Lett. (1895) II. 245 A few tumps so old that you can tell nothing about them. 1891 Kelly's P.O. Guide Herefordsh. 1 Tump is a peculiar term for barrow hills in the western shires..the Tumps at Bolston, Horne Lacy, and Hope Mansel. |
2. A clump of trees or shrubs; a clump of grass, esp. one forming a dry spot in a bog or fen. local.
| 1802 G. Montagu Ornith. Dict. N iij, The nest..is placed on a tump or dry spot. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. xxxi, He..looked ahead of him, from behind a tump of whortles. 1880 ― Mary Anerley xvii, Every tump of wiry grass. |
3. A heap of anything; a hay-cock or rick; a heap of stones. local.
Also a store-heap of potatoes, turnips, etc., covered with straw and earth (Eng. Dial. Dict.).
| 1892 Stratford-on-Avon Herald 5 Aug. 4/2 To sell by Auction,..Tump of Old Hay about 2 tons. 1905 Daily News 24 Jan. 6 A tump of rubbish. |
4. fig. Trivial writing, bad prose.
| 1917 Kipling Diversity of Creatures 172 It's the most vital, arresting and dynamic bit of tump I've done up to date. 1933 D. L. Murray Eng. Family Robinson ii. 36 Did you ever read such tump as our parish magazine? |
Hence ˈtumpy a., of ground: humpy, hummocky.
| 1825 in Eng. Dial. Dict. 1847–78 in Halliwell. |
▪ II. tump, v.1 local
[f. prec. n.]
To make a ‘tump’ or mound about the root of a tree. Also, to store roots in a tump (E.D.D.). Hence ˈtumping vbl. n.
| 1721 Bailey, Tumping, a sort of Fencing for Trees. 1725 Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. Paling, This Method is..more chargeable than Tumping.., but much more durable. Ibid., Tumping, a sort of Fencing in Fields, when a Tree is set..no deeper than to make it stand, tho' all the Roots be not cover'd, till the Tump or Mould be raised about it. 1727 Bailey vol. II, To Tump, to fence trees. |
▪ III. tump, v.2 U.S.
[Origin obscure: cf. tump-line.]
trans. To drag or carry by means of a tump-line.
| 1855 Haliburton Nat. & Hum. Nat. I. 268 A man passed the..barrack-gate, tumping (which means..hauling) an immense bull-moose on a sled. 1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer., To Tump. Probably an Indian word... ‘We tumped the deer to our cabin’. (Maine.) |
▪ IV. tump, v.3 U.S. dial. and colloq.
(tʌmp)
[Prob. repr. a colloq. pronunc. of thump v.; cf. tump-tump n.]
trans. To strike (a person) forcibly; to pound, thump. Also, to knock down or over roughly.
| 1893 S. Crane Maggie x. 89 ‘I'll tump 'im till he can't stand.’.. ‘What's deh use! Yeh'll git pulled in!’ 1926 E. Walrond Tropic Death i. 28 Shut up befor' I tump yo' down! 1931 Amer. Speech VII. 31 Negro Vocabulary... tump v., thump. 1977 Amer. Speech 1975 L. 68 Tump over, tip or knock over. ‘Don't tump over that glass!’ 1983 Dallas Morning News 22 May f1/5, I wuz gonna take a big drank of muh Arro Cee Cola until you came by and tumped it over. |