sump
/sʌmp/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.71 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The crankcase or oil reservoir of an internal combustion engine.
noun
The pit at the lowest point in a circulating or drainage system (FM 55-501).
noun
An intentional depression around a drain or scupper that promotes drainage.
verb
Of a cave passage, to end in a sump, or to fill completely with water on occasion.
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "then, seating himself thus, he replied to him of the east.—'Sounding sump o' rain Saunders Creeshmeloof—saw ye ever a drap o' rain for eight and forty hours after the bonnie sinking sun that sat sae red and sae lang on the summit of Blackwood hills this blessed afternoon? That starry plow o' thine is […]'"
- ""Me and the lads did it this morn." "It was pouring!" Brody said. "If I was tae stop an activity because of a sump o' rain, I'd never get anythin' done," Finn remarked with a twinkle in his eye."
- "We discovered a new passage, but it sumped after 100 metres."
- "This low passage sumps quickly after moderate rainfall."
Etymology
From Middle English sompe, either from Middle Dutch somp, sump or Middle Low German sump from Old Saxon *sump, from Proto-West Germanic *sump, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sumpaz. Doublet of swamp.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: sompe, somp, sump, *sump, *sumpaz