sump, n.
(sʌmp)
Also 5 sompe, 7 sumpe, 8–9 sumph, 9 sumpt.
[a. (M)LG. sump (sumpt) or MDu. somp, sump, Flem. zompe (WFris. sompe), or ad. (in the mining sense) the related MHG., G. sumpf marsh, water-level or lodge, sump in metal-working (whence Sw., Da. sump); f. swump-, related by ablaut to swamp- (see swamp n.).]
1. A marsh, swamp, morass; (now dial.) a dirty pool or puddle.
| c 1425 Cast. Persev. 427 in Macro Plays 90 Myth I ryde be sompe & syke. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Sump, Sumph, a bog, a swamp, a miry pool. 1851 Cumbld. Gloss., Sump, a puddle. 1905 M{supc}Carthy Dryad 265 Swift Spanish soldiers came..picking their way easily over the sump in which the Athenians wallowed. |
2. a. A pit or well for collecting water or other fluid;
spec. a cesspool; a pond or well from which sea-water is collected for salt-manufacture. Also
fig.| 1680 Tynemouth Par. Reg. in Archaeol. æliana XIX. 211 He was drowned in Mr. Lawson's sumpe. 1682 J. Collins Salt & Fish. 10 The Sea-water they commonly at Spring-Tide let into Ponds called Sumps, from whence 'tis pumpt into their Pans. 1748 Brownrigg Art of Making Salt 55 They..make a little pond in the rocks, or with stones on the sand, which they call their sump. 1862 Smiles Engineers III. 45 He had a wooden box or boot made, twelve feet high, which he placed in the sump or well, and into this he inserted the lower end of the pump. 1884 Contemp. Rev. June 798 The experience of the fen system of working by conveyance into sumps. 1893 Newcastle Daily Jrnl. 11 July 6/2 It was not true that there were three or four houses with ‘sumps’ in them, giving off offensive odours. 1963 T. & P. Morris Pentonville iii. 69 Pentonville represents one of the sumps of the English prison system; a receptacle into which the sludge is continuously drained. 1969 Gloss. Terms Water Cooling Towers (B.S.I.) 6 Sump, a lowered portion of the cold water basin floor for draining down purposes. 1975 Sci. Amer. Oct. 23/3 As fast as the heavy water leaked out it was collected in a sump and pumped directly back into the reactor. |
b. Mining. A pit or well sunk at the bottom of an engine shaft to collect the water of the mine.
| 1653 E. Manlove Cust. Lead-mines 159 They may cause open'd, Drifts, and Sumps, to see If any one by other wronged be. 1700 Mackworth Disc. Mine-Adv., 2nd Abstr. 13 We were not able to sink down our Sumps till the Weather grows Warmer. 1778 Pryce Min. Cornub. 144 A whym Shaft to draw the Deads and Ore from the Sump of the Mine. 1866 Morning Star 18 Dec. 6/2 The break-down of a portion of the winding machinery..has prevented the sumph being emptied of its water. 1895 Times 16 Jan. 10/1 The obstructions which had been brought to the sump by the rush of water, such as pit-props, tubs. |
c. A depression in the bottom of the crankcase of an internal-combustion engine, which serves as a reservoir of lubricating oil.
| 1907 Westm. Gaz. 9 Nov. 14/3 The oil is forced by a gear-driven pump from a sump in the crank-chamber. 1929 [see skew gear s.v. skew a. 2]. 1950 Brit. Repair Man.: Cars 38/2 The oil filling orifice is housed in the valve top cover, and the sump, which is a steel pressing, has a capacity of 7½ pints. 1980 J. McClure Blood of Englishman i. 9 Droopy was removing the sump... He..extended a hand for a No. 8 ring spanner. |
3. Metallurgy. A pit of stone or metal at a furnace to collect the metal at the first fusion.
| 1674 Ray Coll. Words 114 The mine when melted runs down into the Sump. 1884 Lock Workshop Rec. Ser. iii. 424/2 The metal is tapped off into an iron sump. |
4. Mining. Applied locally to various kinds of drifts or pits (see
quots.); also, ‘the part of a judd of coal first brought down’ (
Eng. & For. Mining Gloss. 1860).
| 1747 Hooson Miner's Dict. s.v., The second is so proportioned to supply the first and third Sump, to supply the second, and so on. 1796 Statist. Acc. Scot. XVIII. 142 A shaft or sump, as the miners term it, was made to the depth of several fathoms, immediately below the bottom of the waste. 1828 Craven Gloss., Sump, a hole sunk below the levels or drifts of a mine at a proper distance to divide the ground, and communicate air to the different works or branches. 1846 Brockett N.C. Words (ed. 3), Sumph..also means a secondary shaft in a mine. 1851 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh. 54 Sump..in driving a stone drift, or in sinking a pit, that portion kept a yard or more in advance of the drift or pit, to enable the gunpowder to act to greater advantage upon the parts left. 1866 Durham Mining Lang., Sump, a pit sunk from one level in a mine to a lower level. |
5. attrib., as
sump-head;
sump drift, a drift for the construction of a sump;
sump-fuse, a waterproof fuse used for blasting under water (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk., 1867);
sump guard, a cowling for protecting the sump of a motor vehicle from perforation on poor roads;
sump-hole,
= 2 a, b;
sump-man, a pitman's assistant, one who attends to the machinery in an engine-shaft;
sump-plank (see
quot.);
sump-shaft, an engine-shaft.
| 1882 Rep. Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S. 147 This shaft..was sunk 33 feet below the 2,500-foot level. A *sump drift was run out 50 feet from the bottom. |
| 1968 Guardian 6 May 5/5 The 1800 I was driving was standard except for a *sump guard, essential on East African roads. 1980 J. Barnett Palmprint vii. 62 A heavy stone clanged against the sumpguard. |
| 1747 Hooson Miner's Dict., Spurfork, a small sort of Fork..sometimes used to hold Doorsteds in Drifts, or at *Sumpheads asunder. |
| 1847 Halliwell, *Sump-hole, a cesspool. Yorksh. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 15 Nov. 2/1 Mr. Goschen..braved the sulphurous fumes..as far as the sump-hole. 1903 Ibid. 28 Nov. 6/2 Water pumped..from a sumpt-hole..adjacent to one of the most polluted branches of the Lea. |
| 1839 H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. xv. 605 *Sumpmen. 1866 Thornbury Greatheart III. 211 Then they helped me into the sumpman's house. |
| 1860 Eng. & For. Mining Gloss. (ed. 2) 80 *Sump-planks, strong balks of timber bolted together, forming a temporary bottom, or scaffolding, for the shaft. |
| 1778 W. Pryce Min. Cornub. 171 *Sumph shaft western bottoms. |
Hence
sump v. intr., to dig a sump or (small or temporary) shaft;
ˈsumping vbl. n., also
attrib. (see
quots. 1860).
| 1700 Mackworth Disc. Mine-Adv., 2nd Abstr. 12 We are Sumping and driving in the new Work in good firm..Oar. 1789 J. Williams Min. Kingd. I. 277 Many [miners]..were sumping, driving, and roofing in other parts of the work. 1860 Eng. & For. Mining Gloss. (ed. 2) 65 Sumping-shot, a charge of powder for bringing down the sump, or for blowing the stone up in a sinking pit. Ibid. 80 Sumping, a small square shaft, generally made in the air-headings, when crossing faults, &c., or made to prove the thickness of coal, &c. 1886 J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms 65 Sumping, cutting down into the floor, or, in sinking, cutting down at the lowest part of the shaft. |
______________________________
Add:
[2.] d. Caving. An underground passage or chamber in which water collects,
esp. one which is flooded.
| 1951 C. H. D. Cullingford Exploring Caves iii. 46 Strictly speaking, a sump is a chamber where water collects at the lowest level in a system where water circulates (compare the ‘sump’ in a motor-car engine). 1956 E. J. Mason tr. G. de Lavaur's Caves & Cave Diving II. i. 79 Sumps are certainly stumbling blocks for cavers. 1967 Potholing & Caving (‘Know the Game’ Ser.) 20/1 To penetrate sumps which are too long for ‘free diving’ (some of them more than 200 ft. in length), breathing apparatus has to be used. 1988 Caves & Caving Summer 27/2 This 150 ft dive was a major achievement for the day—tackling the remotest known sump in the country. |