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Brit. /pl
n(d)
/, U.S. /pl
nd/ Forms: 
. ME plange, ME plaunge, ME plownge, ME plumge, ME plungy (south-west.), ME-15 (17 Sc.) plounge, ME-16 plonge, ME- plunge, 15 plong, 15-16 plundge, 18 ploonge (Sc.).
. ME plonche, ME plounch, ME plunche; N.E.D. (1907) also records a form lME plunch. [< Anglo-Norman and Middle French plunger, plungier, Anglo-Norman plumger, plumgier, Middle French plongier, plaingier, Middle French, French plonger (c1130 in Old French; also as plonchier) to jump into water, dive (c1130), to submerge (1135), (of a ship) to sink (c1160), to enter suddenly into (a crowd) (c1170), to thrust a weapon into a body (1188), to baptize (12th cent.), to jump down (12th cent.), (of a bird) to descend sharply (1376), to dedicate oneself to a pursuit or occupation (1559), to fire cannon downwards (1678) < an unattested post-classical Latin verb *plumbicare to throw a leaded line < classical Latin plumbum lead (see PLUMB n.1) + -ic
re, verbal suffix. Compare Old Occitan plonhar, plonjar, plombiar (12th cent., originally in sense ‘(of the sun) to set’; Occitan plonjar, plunjar, plunhar). Compare PLOUNCE v.
In Middle English prefixed and unprefixed forms of the past participle forms are attested (see Y- prefix).]
I. Physical uses.
1. a. trans. To thrust, throw, or drop into or in a liquid, penetrable substance, deep pit, container, etc.; to immerse, to submerge.
In quot. c1380 at 
: 
to baptize by immersion (obs.)
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) 1085
e prelat..plungede him sone
er-on; an was cristned sir Firumbras.
c1425 LYDGATE Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A. 4)
II. 4469 Many sturdy wawe..fille doun & swappid in
e frount Evene of
e schip & ploungid it ful lowe.
1483 CAXTON tr. J. de Voragine
Golden Legende 431/1 Other there wende that the shyppe shold haue broken and be plonged in the see.
1542 A. B
ORDE Compend. Regyment Helth xxxix. sig. N.ii
v, To plounge the eyes in colde water in the morenyng.
1569 J. SANFORD tr. H. C. Agrippa
Of Vanitie Artes & Sci. 15 The riuer Mosa..plungeth him selfe, not in the ocean, but in the Rhene.
1590 SPENSER Faerie Queene II. xii. 64 Sometimes the one would lift the other quight Above the waters, and then downe againe Her plong.
1617 S. HIERON Wks. (1619-20) II. 371 If thou be not mercifull vnto me, I shall eternally be plundged into the nethermost hell.
1664 J. EVELYN Sylva vii. 24 Let the Nuts be first spread to sweat;..a Moneth being past, plunge them in Water, reject the Swimmers.
1711 J. ADDISON Spectator No. 94. ¶8 The holy Man bid him plunge his Head into the Water.
1774 O. GOLDSMITH Hist. Earth VI. 208 They renew their attacks, till the whale begins to be quite enfeebled,..when they plunge their longer spears into various parts of its body.
1816 J. SCOTT Paris Revisited vi. 130 The soldier.was about to plunge his bayonet into the breast of the unfortunate Frenchman.
1878 T. H. HUXLEY Physiogr. 77 You have only to plunge a lighted taper into it.
1925 V. WOOLF Mrs. Dalloway 58 Her evening dresses hung in the cupboard. Clarissa, plunging her hand into the softness, gently detached the green dress.
1958 J. E. M
ORTON Molluscs v. 95 The larger sand-burrowing Mesogastropoda..generally live on echinoids and bivalves..plunging the proboscis into the soft parts.
1995 L. G
ARRETT Coming Plague xvi 564 Colwell and her colleagues discovered that the El Tor strain was capable of shrinking itself 300-fold when plunged suddenly into cold salt water.
c1435 LYDGATE St. George (Bodl) in
Englische Studien (1910-11)
43 20 In a vessel boylyng ful of lede The holy martir was plunched [
v.r. e-plounged] doun.
1447 O. BOKENHAM Lives of Saints 3048 Of cursyd custum plounchyd in
e myre.
a1450 (?1409)
St. Patrick's Purgatory (Royal) 71 Fendes..takyng
ilk bisshop..and plunchyng him in
at blak water.
b. intr. To throw or hurl oneself into water or the like; to dive; to fall abruptly and involuntarily, esp. from a great height, into a depth; to descend. Also: to enter suddenly into or pass rapidly through something which surrounds one completely, as a forest, a crowd, etc Usu. with in, into, through.
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) 5784 How
at ys water ys arayed,
at y schal plungy on.
?c1450 tr.
Bk. Knight of La Tour Landry (1906) 112 A yonge childe..happed to plonge and to fall in a depe pitte withinne the Ryuer.
a1470 MALORY Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll.) 329 Many tymes his horse and he plunged over their hedys in depe myres.
1489 (
a1380)
J. BARBOUR Bruce (Adv.)
II. 355 For the best, and the worthiest..Plungyt in the stalwart stour, And rowtis ruyd about thaim dang.
a1500 (?
c1450)
Merlin (1899) 219 Thei plonged in a-monge hem so depe, and neuer thei stynted til thei come to the baner of Cleodalis.
c1589 J. S
PARKE in R. Hakluyt
Princ. Navigations (1589)
III. 535 [The alligator] plunged into the water, making a streame like the way of a boate.
1596 T. NASHE Haue with you to Saffron-Walden Ep. Ded. sig. A3
v, Like a horse plunging through the myre in the deep of winter.
a1616 SHAKESPEARE Julius Caesar (1623)
I. ii. 107 Accoutred as I was, I plunged in, And bad him follow.
1697 DRYDEN tr. Virgil
Pastorals VIII, in tr. Virgil
Wks. 38 From yon high Cliff I plunge into the Main.
1735 W. SOMERVILLE Chace I. 181 They plunge into the Stream, There lave their reeking Sides.
1777 W. ROBERTSON Hist. Amer. (1778) II. v. 119 Horsemen and infantry plunged in promiscuously.
1790 W. BUCHAN Domest. Med. (ed. 11) lv. 633 It is now fashionable for persons of all ranks to plunge into the sea, and drink the mineral waters.
1816 M. H
OLFORD Margaret of Anjou III. 69 Plunging headlong mid the crowd, With thundering shout he cried aloud.
1841 DICKENS Barnaby Rudge lix. 277 He plunged into the thickest portion of the little wood.
1894 R. KIPLING Jungle Bk. 116 They headed for a cliff by the shore, a cliff that ran down into deep water, and plunged into a dark hole at the foot of it.
1911 J. MUIR My First Summer in Sierra iv, An adventurer in the foremost rank plunged in and swam bravely to the farther shore.
1973 C. BONINGTON Next Horizon xii. 183, I plunged through the deep powder snow.
1992 N.Y. Times Mag. 28 June 34/3 A bus and van from a church camp plunged into the Guadalupe River.
a1500 (?
a1425) tr.
Secreta Secret. (Lamb.) 96
e sawle shall plunche into
e depnes of helle.
c. trans. poet. To plunge into or through; to penetrate (water, ground, etc.) by plunging, diving, or digging. Now rare.
1488 (
c1478) H
ARY Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.)
VII. 1211, vii thousand large at-anys flottryt in Forth, Plungyt the depe and drownd with-out mercye.
?1614 W. DRUMMOND Sonnet: Vaunt not in
Poems, Vaunt not, rich Pearle, red Corrall which doe stirre A fond desire in Fooles to plunge your Ground.
1724 A. RAMSAY Health 313 He'll plunge the deep, And with expanded arms the billows sweep.
1777 Songs & Chorusses Tempest 4 I'll climb the mountains, plunge the deep [
1776 Airs, Duets, &c. plunge i' th' Deep], I like mortals, never sleep.
1902 E. H. H
ICKEY Our Lady of May XII. 29 Him they know, Him who plunged the deepest depths from highest height.
1914 E. B. B
AYLY Author of Spanish Brothers Pref. p. v, Inwardly, she had to ‘climb the mountains, plunge the deep’.
d. trans. To bring or pump up by plunging. Obs. rare.
1567 in G. Turberville Epitaphs f. 78v, Plunge vp a thousande sighes, for griefe your trickling teares distill.
2. a. intr. To make a sudden or violent movement forward , esp. with a diving action; spec. (of a horse) to make such a movement with the head and neck lowered; (of a ship) to pitch; (of the chest) to heave.
In quot. 1607 trans. (refl.): (of a horse) to bring itself into a specified state by plunging (obs.).
?1507 [implied in
PLUNGING n. 2].
1530 J. PALSGRAVE Lesclarcissement 661/2, I plunge, as a horse doth,
je plonge.
c1550 Clariodus (1830)
I. 735 The bairdit steidis plunging on the greine.
1569 S. BATMAN tr. O. de la Marche
Trauayled Pylgrime sig. Hiij, Then leapt my horse and plunged sore.
1607 G. MARKHAM Cavelarice II. 95 They will after they haue plunged themselues wearie, fall downe.
a1641 T. HEYWOOD &
W. ROWLEY Fortune by Land & Sea III. i, in
Wks. (1874) VI. 392 Our teems..plunge in pain.
1735 W. SOMERVILLE Chace III. 334 Wounded, he rears aloft, And plunging, from his Back the Rider hurls Precipitant.
1796 J. HUNTER Compl. Dict. Farriery & Horsemanship,
Brouiller, is when a horse on being put to any manage, plunges, traverses, and appears in disorder.
1801 M. EDGEWORTH Forester in
Moral Tales I 169 He taught Sawney to rear and plunge, whenever his legs were touched by the broom.
1817 Sporting Mag. 50 17 Dick kept plunging with his favourite right-handed hits.
1836 F. MARRYAT Mr. Midshipman Easy II. x. 291 The frigate..no longer jerked and plunged as before.
1898 T. C. ALLBUTT et al.
Syst. Med. V. 287 The chest may plunge, but there is no expansion of the thoracic cavity.
1905 J. LONDON White Fang V. iv. 309 The horse became frightened and backed and plunged away.
1932 W. FAULKNER Light in August xx, You can feel, hear in the darkness horses pulled short up, plunging.
1959 ‘J. W
INTON’
We joined Navy ix. 152 The boats at the booms rose and plunged with the send of the sea until it became difficult for the crews to man them.
1990 New Age Oct. 43/2 The strong leaves of the box-elder tree, Plunging in the wind.
1990 D. W
ALCOTT Omeros I. vi. 35 Helen heard its hooves drumming through her bare feet, and turned, as the unreined horse plunged with its dolphining neck, the wheezing halves of its chest distended by the ruffling nostrils like a bellows.
b. trans. Of a horse: to throw or unseat by plunging. Obs.
1603 R. KNOLLES Gen. Hist. Turkes 66 At the farther side of the riuer [he] was so plunged by his horse, at his landing, that he was taken vp for dead.
3. Technical uses.
a. trans. To sink (a pot containing a plant, or a plant in a pot) in the ground.
1679 J. EVELYN Sylva (ed. 3) ii. 13 Plunge it [
sc. the branch] half a foot under good mould.
1786 J. ABERCROMBIE Gardeners Daily Assistant 123 Sow orange and lemon
kernels
of ripe or rotten fruit, in pots, and plunged in a hot bed to raise stock for budding.
1824 J. C. LOUDON Green-house Compan. I. 132 Chrysanthemum indicum might be introduced when in bloom, and plunged in the borders as if growing there.
1851 Beck's Florist 87, I would recommend plunging the pots, but be sure you have a dry bottom.
1869 P. HENDERSON Pract. Floricult. xxix. 200 These pots should be planted, or, as we term it, ‘plunged’ to the rim, or level with the surface.
1935 A. G. L. HELLYER Pract. Gardening xxix. 183 It is an excellent plan to plunge the pots to their rims in a bed of ashes to reduce the necessity for frequent watering.
1974 S. C
LAPHAM Greenhouse Bk. xviii. 194 To get a good set of berries, the plants should be plunged to the pot rim outside.
1994 Newsday (Nexis) 18 June
B8 Cuttings usually take about two months to root well, and then can be potted up and be plunged, pots and all, into the garden soil.
b. intr. Of artillery: to fire downwards from an elevated position. Cf. PLUNGING adj. 3. Obs.
1761 J. C
ALL in R. O. Cambridge
Acct. War in India 173 Two guns..were intended to plunge into the royal bastion.
1816 SCOTT Paul's Lett. to Kinsfolk 166 Our artillery on the ridge were brought to plunge into it.
4. intr. To move or travel forth, on, etc., rapidly, abruptly, or recklessly; to move with a rush or sudden impulse into or out of; to hurtle, career. Also fig.
1726 W. BROOME in Pope et al. tr. Homer
Odyssey V.
XXIII. 256 He views the strand, And plunging forth with transport grasps the land.
1806 T. JEFFERSON Let. 5 July in
Writings (1984) 1165 If the executive is to keep all other information to himself, and the House to plunge on in the dark, it becomes a government of chance and not of design.
1834 L. RITCHIE Wanderings by Seine 110 We..plunged into the high road leading to Duclair.
1885 Manch. Examiner 22 Jan. 5/2 Under a well-organised fire from the works, the Arabs plunged forth upon the square.
1891 C. GRAVES Field of Tares IV. vi. 241 The Norwich Express, plunging out of Liverpool Street Station.
a1902 F. N
ORRIS Pit (1903) x. 400 She had committed herself now; recklessly she plunged on.
1954 Times Lit. Suppl. 12 Nov. 714/4 As the Age of Reason plunged towards revolution, Juvenal was carried like a banner in the van of the attack.
1990 A. STEVENS On Jung ii. 18 The dreamer might see a train, carrying him home, plunging in and out of a series of tunnels.
2004 Derby Evening Tel. (Nexis) 16 Mar. 6 If the Germans had captured crossings over the Trent, they could have plunged in any direction.
5. intr. To slope abruptly or steeply downward; to dip suddenly; (Geol.) (of a fold) to have an axis that slopes or dips downwards, whether at a large or a small angle; (of an axis) to slope or dip downwards.
1842 C. M
ATHEWS Career Puffer Hopkins xix. 149 A sudden turn brought her where the road plunged down with a swift declivity at her feet.
1854 R. I. MURCHISON Siluria ii. 31 They are seen to fold over and plunge to the east-south-east.
1882 B. HARTE Flip i, The stage-road that plunged from the terrace..into the valley below.
1932 Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists 16 210 At this time all of the folds plunged consistently eastward at a low angle.
1942 M. P. BILLINGS Structural Geol. iii. 46 In the southwest corner, the anticline plunges 15 degrees to the southwest.
1965 A. HOLMES Princ. Physical Geol. (ed. 2) ix. 210 The axes of folds are not infrequently found to be tilted instead of horizontal; the folds are then said to pitch or plunge.
1989 Holiday Which? Jan. 51/1 From the corniche the road plunges past modern houses to a steep deep bay and old fishing harbour.
6. trans. To depress (a plunger or similar switch). Also intr. Hence trans. (Railways): to release (points or a signal) by doing this.
1923 [implied in PLUNGING n. 4]. 1926 C. J. ALLEN Iron Road xii. 180 Then the signalman in the next box cannot ‘plunge’ on his instrument until he has put his own starting signal lever back to danger in the lever frame behind the last preceding train. 1940 Railway Signalling & Communications iii. 93 All facing points unprotected by track circuit must be provided with a locking bar in addition to the plunger, and the points must be plunged before the signal reading over them can be cleared. 1947 Times Recorder (Zanesville, Ohio) 9 Sept. 1B/7 Reese collapsed immediately after plunging the detonator. 1992 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 27 Dec. J2/1 Boris prepares to plunge the plunger that will blast Colorado Boulevard to smithereens.
7. intr. Of a commodity, price, currency, etc.: to drop sharply in value or amount.
1870 Titusville (Pa.) Morning Herald 13 July 2/5 The market plunged downward under heavy sales and frantic operators, and did not stop till 112 was reached. 1935 Times 7 May 26/2 While commodity prices plunged headlong coal prices had remained more steady over a period of four years than they had ever remained for 12 months at any time in the past. 1977 Time 15 Aug. 12/3 Inflation was raging (at 22%), the lira was plunging, and the country was sustained at the brink only by massive loans from abroad. 2001 Financial Times 27 Jan. (Personal Finance Quarterly Rev.) 3/3 The Nasdaq Index, representing arguably the world's most important stock market, plunged by 33 per cent.
II. Extended uses.
8. a. trans. To precipitate or immerse into or in a particular condition, state of affairs, matter, sphere of action, etc.
?c1400 (
c1380)
CHAUCER tr. Boethius
De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868)
III. pr. ii. 1784 Many folke..wenen
at it be
ry
t blisful to ploungen hem in uoluptuous delit [L.
voluptate diffluere, Fr.
estre plongés en delices].
c1450 (?
c1408)
LYDGATE Reson & Sensuallyte 6762 Y-plonged in ful gret distresse.
a1500 in R. H. Robbins
Secular Lyrics 14th & 15th Cent. (1952) 151 My hert ys so plungyt yn greffe ther may no bran my balyes no byne.
a1522 G. DOUGLAS tr. Virgil
Æneid XI. vii. 130 May we se..Thys cite haly plungit in distres.
1567 in J. Cranstoun
Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. iv. 51 Quhomlit in sorow and plungeit in cair.
1641 MILTON Of Prelatical Episc. 4 The Councels themselves were fouly corrupted with ungodly Prelatisme, and..plung'd into worldly ambition.
1686 tr. J. Chardin
Coronation Solyman 87 in
Trav. Persia, The young Prince having plundg'd himself into the excesses of Wine and Women.
1713 G. BERKELEY Hylas & Philonous iii. 106 And so you are plunged into the deepest and most deplorable scepticism.
1796 H. HUNTER tr. J. H. B. de Saint-Pierre
Stud. Nature (1799) III. 181 Violent passions always plunge the soul into contrary extremes.
1838 C. THIRLWALL Hist. Greece III. xxii. 227 The commotion, which..agitated Syracuse, and threatened to plunge it into a civil war.
1875 B. JOWETT tr. Plato
Dialogues (ed. 2) IV. 373 We are plunged at once into philosophical discussions.
1918 Punch 27 Mar. 206/2 If he [
sc. our butcher] were removed we should be plunged into absolute meatlessness.
1995 Empire Nov. 20/1 The entire household is plunged into a web of mystery and mayhem.
c1430 Compleynt in J. Schick
Lydgate's Temple of Glas (1891) App. 64 Fortune..Now canst thow sette men aloft, And now hem plonchyn ful vnsoft Doun from hegh felycyte.
1447 O. BOKENHAM Lives of Saints 8882
ei in peyn be plounchyd lowe.
b. trans. To cast into difficulty, misfortune, confusion, etc.; to overwhelm, overpower, oppress; (also) to confound, puzzle. Usu. in pass. (freq. with with). Obs.
a1513 H. BRADSHAW Lyfe St. Werburge (1521)
I. xvi. sig. p.viii, Plonget with sorowe, syghynge day and nyght.
?a1525 (
c1450)
Christ's Burial & Resurrection I. 462 in F. J. Furnivall
Digby Plays (1896) 187 This womans harte is plungid with payn.
1600 ABP. G. ABBOT Expos. Prophet Ionah ix. 191 What is all this to plunge his abilitie, who can do euerie thing.
1643 SIR T. BROWNE Relig. Medici I. §21 [He] was so plunged and gravelled with three lines of Seneca, that all our Antidotes..could not expel the poyson of his errour.
a1659 F. OSBORNE Let. in
Misc. Wks. (1722) I. 10 Your unfortunate Friend is more plunged to get out of a Hole, than he that lay in the Saw-pit.
1681 Relig. Clerici 188, I am more and more plunged and puzled in this point.
1756 Monitor No. 40. I. 393 In a short time, by small accidents and unlikely instruments, he was more plunged and embroiled than ever.
c. intr. To enter fully or wholeheartedly into into a condition, state of affairs, etc.; to commit oneself to a course of action; to involve oneself deeply in.
a1555 J. PHILPOT Exam. & Writings (1842) 334 It is possible some part of the Church for a time to be deceived when..they have a zeal of the truth,..yea, very then when they err, and plunge into any vice or sin.
1600 ABP. G. ABBOT Expos. Prophet Ionah ii. 27 Without Gods grace we very soone plunge into all maner of sin.
1631 R. BOLTON Instr. for Right Comforting Afflicted Consciences 442, I have been so freshly stung with their guilt, that I will rather be pull'd in peeces with wild horses, then plunge againe into carnall pleasures.
a1694 J. TILLOTSON Wks. (1820) I. 484 He could find no other way to conceal his adultery, but to plunge into the guilt of a murther.
1714 J. ADDISON Cato I. i, Bid me for honour plunge into a war Of thickest foes.
1771 E. BURKE Corr. (1844) I. 252 The character of their party is to be very ready to plunge into difficult business.
1814 J. AUSTEN Mansfield Park III. xvi. 313 Poor Maria, in sacrificing such a situation, plunging into such difficulties, under the idea of being really loved by a man who long ago had made his indifference clear.
1875 B. JOWETT tr. Plato
Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 5 We plunge abruptly into the subject of the dialogue.
1939 Fortune Oct. 137/3 It seemed a long jump from dynamos and motors, but we had the plant and the plastics, so we plunged into the new field.
1990 A. TOFFLER Powershift I. i. 4 The Soviet Union itself plunged into a period of near chaotic change.
9. colloq.
a. intr. To spend money recklessly; to run into debt; to speculate or gamble large sums.
1876 W. BESANT &
J. RICE Golden Butterfly III. viii. 155 They plunged as regards hansoms, paying whatever was asked with an airy prodigality.
1883 M. E. BRADDON Phantom Fortune xliv, She has been plunging rather deeply.
1939 ‘F. O'BRIEN’ At Swim-Two-Birds 50 Do not hesitate to plunge to your limit on
Grandchild on Friday and remit immediately after the race.
1986 Sunday Mail (
Queensland
)
(Nexis) 19 Jan., You don't lose much because you never plunge heavily until you have won casino money to play with.
b. trans. To bet or speculate (a sum of money).
1919 J. JOYCE Ulysses Cyclops in
Little Rev. Dec. 60 Boylan plunged two quid on my tip
Sceptre for himself and a lady friend.
1952 Times-Picayune (
New Orleans
)
6 May 1/6 A mild-mannered bank vice-president..was accused..of embezzling about $400,000 to plunge on the stock market.
1994 Amer. Spectator Aug. 41/1 She had plunged $1000 on the notoriously choppy futures market.
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