plunge Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a brief swim in water
    dip.
  2. noun a steep and rapid fall
  3. verb thrust or throw into
    immerse.
    • Immerse yourself in hot water
  4. verb drop steeply
    plunk; dive.
    • the stock market plunged
  5. verb dash violently or with great speed or impetuosity
    • She plunged at it eagerly
  6. verb begin with vigor
    launch.
    • He launched into a long diatribe
    • She plunged into a dangerous adventure
  7. verb cause to be immersed
    immerse.
    • The professor plunged his students into the study of the Italian text
  8. verb fall abruptly
    dump.
    • It plunged to the bottom of the well
  9. verb immerse briefly into a liquid so as to wet, coat, or saturate
    dunk; souse; dip; douse.
    • dip the garment into the cleaning solution
    • dip the brush into the paint
  10. verb devote (oneself) fully to
    immerse; absorb; soak up; engross; engulf; steep.
    • He immersed himself into his studies

WordNet

Plunge transitive verb
Etymology
OE. ploungen, OF. plongier, F. plonger, fr. (assumed) LL. plumbicare, fr. L. plumbum lead. See Plumb.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Plunged ; present participle & verbal noun Plunging
Definitions
  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." Dryden.
    Bound and plunged him into a cell. Tennyson.
    We shall be plunged into perpetual errors. I. Watts.
  2. To baptize by immersion.
  3. To entangle; to embarrass; to overcome. Obs.
    Plunged and graveled with three lines of Seneca. Sir T. Browne.
Plunge intransitive verb
Definitions
  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. Dryden.
    To plunge into guilt of a murther. Tillotson.
  2. To pitch or throw one's self headlong or violently forward, as a horse does.
    Some wild colt, which . . . flings and plunges. Bp. Hall.
  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
Plunge noun
Definitions
  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. Sir P. Sidney.
    And with thou not reach out a friendly arm, To raise me from amidst this plunge of sorrows? Addison.
  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

Webster 1913