Plump means pleasantly round and a little fat. Plump grapes, a plump cushion, a baby's plump arms, a robin puffed up on a fence in January.
It is the kind word where fat is not, because it carries softness and health rather than judgement — though about an adult it is still safest left unsaid. The verb is all about shape: you plump up a pillow by shaking it back into roundness, and raisins plump up in warm water. Plump FOR is a different animal altogether and it catches learners out — to plump for something is to choose it after dithering, as in we plumped for the cheaper flight. There is plump down as well, meaning to sit or drop heavily into a chair, and you can hear the weight in the sound of the word.
1adjectiveplumpPleasantly round and slightly fat.
“A plump little robin sat on the fence post.”
synonyms: chubby, rounded
2verbshakeTo shake or push something into a rounder, fuller shape; to swell.
“She plumped the cushions before the guests arrived.”
3verbchoose(plump for) To choose one option after hesitating between several.
“We plumped for the cheaper hotel in the end.”
Also accepted in games: chubby
English borrowed plump in the Middle Ages from Middle Dutch plomp or Middle Low German plump. It is one of the many everyday words that arrived across the North Sea rather than down from Latin, and Saterland Frisian still keeps plump with the same meaning.
Middle Low German
plump
Middle Dutch
plomp
Middle English
plump
English, today
plump
From Middle English plump, plompe, a borrowing from Middle Dutch plomp or Middle Low German plump. Cognate with stq plump (“plump”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Body & Health, Everyday Adjectives