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Plunge   /pləndʒ/   Listen
noun
Plunge  n.  
1.
The act of thrusting into or submerging; a dive, leap, rush, or pitch into, or as into, water; as, to take the water with a plunge.
2.
Hence, a desperate hazard or act; a state of being submerged or overwhelmed with difficulties. (R.) "She was brought to that plunge, to conceal her husband's murder or accuse her son." "And with thou not reach out a friendly arm, To raise me from amidst this plunge of sorrows?"
3.
The act of pitching or throwing one's self headlong or violently forward, like an unruly horse.
4.
Heavy and reckless betting in horse racing; hazardous speculation. (Cant)
Plunge bath, an immersion by plunging; also, a large bath in which the bather can wholly immerse himself.
Plunge battery, or plunging battery (Elec.), a voltaic battery so arranged that the plates can be plunged into, or withdrawn from, the exciting liquid at pleasure.


verb
Plunge  v. t.  (past & past part. plunged; pres. part. plunging)  
1.
To thrust into water, or into any substance that is penetrable; to immerse; to cause to penetrate or enter quickly and forcibly; to thrust; as, to plunge the body into water; to plunge a dagger into the breast. Also used figuratively; as, to plunge a nation into war. "To plunge the boy in pleasing sleep." "Bound and plunged him into a cell." "We shall be plunged into perpetual errors."
2.
To baptize by immersion.
3.
To entangle; to embarrass; to overcome. (Obs.) "Plunged and graveled with three lines of Seneca."


Plunge  v. i.  
1.
To thrust or cast one's self into water or other fluid; to submerge one's self; to dive, or to rush in; as, he plunged into the river. Also used figuratively; as, to plunge into debt. "Forced to plunge naked in the raging sea." "To plunge into guilt of a murther."
2.
To pitch or throw one's self headlong or violently forward, as a horse does. "Some wild colt, which... flings and plunges."
3.
To bet heavily and with seeming recklessness on a race, or other contest; in an extended sense, to risk large sums in hazardous speculations. (Cant)
Plunging fire (Gun.), firing directed upon an enemy from an elevated position.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Plunge" Quotes from Famous Books



... Encyclopaedia" of the year 1861, and also read one or two more books upon his shelves. From these she discovered that there was more in sheep breeding than was covered by the lore of the Three Marshes, and her mind began to plunge adventurously among Southdowns and Leicesters, Black-faced, Blue-faced, and Cumberland sheep. She saw Ansdore famous as a great sheep-breeding centre, with many thousands of pounds coming annually to its ...
— Joanna Godden • Sheila Kaye-Smith
... ponderous fist, on the face of the man, as he lay beneath him. The hold on his throat loosened, and seeing that they had rolled within reach of his sword, in a moment he had clutched it, and drawing back his elbow, prepared to plunge it ...
— The Recollections of Geoffrey Hamlyn • Henry Kingsley
... Oh plunge me deep in love—put out My senses, leave me deaf and blind, Swept by the tempest of your love, A taper in ...
— Rivers to the Sea • Sara Teasdale
... a letter from the Lord Chief Commissioner, mentioning the King's intention to take care of Charles's interests and promotion in the Foreign Office, an additional reason why I should not plunge rashly into politics, yet not one which I can understand as putting a padlock on my lips neither. I may write to L.C.C. that I may be called on to express an opinion on the impending changes, that I have an opinion, ...
— The Journal of Sir Walter Scott - From the Original Manuscript at Abbotsford • Walter Scott
... clothes on again and prinked as much as she could. Then she sallied forth, opening and closing the door with pious care. She went to the elevator, and the car began to drop. The elevator-boy politely lowered it without plunge or jolt. ...
— We Can't Have Everything • Rupert Hughes


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