plunging

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈplʌn.d͡ʒɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌndʒɪŋ

Verb

plunging

1. present participle and gerund of plunge

Adjective

plunging (not comparable)

1. That descends steeply.
2. Aimed from higher ground, as fire upon an enemy.
3. (of the neckline of a dress) Very low-cut.

Derived terms

• plungingly
• plunging neckline

Noun

plunging (plural plungings)

1. An occurrence of putting or sinking under water or other fluid.
2. A headlong violent motion like that of a horse trying to throw its rider.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick; or The Whale‎:

     Like one who after a night of drunken revelry hies to his bed, still reeling, but with conscience yet pricking him, as the plungings of the Roman race-horse but so much the more strike his steel tags into him; […] .

   • 1881, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), The Prince and The Pauper, Complete‎:

     Then followed a confusion of kicks, cuffs, tramplings and plungings, accompanied by a thunderous intermingling of volleyed curses, and finally a bitter apostrophe to the mule, which must have broken its spirit, for hostilities seemed to cease from that moment.

   • 1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 20:

     It pulled up with a mighty plunging of horses at the overturned chaise.

Anagrams

• pungling