sump
/sʌmp/
sump noun: a hollow or pit into which liquid drains, such as a cesspool, cesspit or sink.
Noun
sump (plural sumps)
- A hollow or pit into which liquid drains, such as a cesspool, cesspit or sink.
- The lowest part of a mineshaft into which water drains.
- A completely flooded cave passage, sometimes passable by diving.
- The crankcase or oil reservoir of an internal combustion engine.
- The pit at the lowest point in a circulating or drainage system (FM 55-501).
- An intentional depression around a drain or scupper that promotes drainage.
- A sudden or heavy fall of rain; a deluge.
- 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...1821, “Mark Macrabin, the Cameronian”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, page 147
- "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.2024 January 23, Traci Hall, Murder at a Scottish Castle, Kensington Cozies, →ISBN, page 12
Verb
sump (third-person singular simple present sumps, present participle sumping, simple past and past participle sumped)
- Of a cave passage, to end in a sump, or to fill completely with water on occasion.
- We discovered a new passage, but it sumped after 100 metres.
- This low passage sumps quickly after moderate rainfall.
sump meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Kannada
sump in Tamil
- கட்டுத் தொட்டி, தேக்கத் தொட்டி, வடி குட்டை, வீழ் தொட்டி, நிலத்தடித்தொட்டி, நிலக்கீழ்த் தொட்டி
sump in Urdu
- دلدل
sump in Kannada
- ಗುಂಡಿ, ತೊಟ್ಟಿ
Examples of sump in a sentence
- There was a small trough that the sump pump emptied into; it was filled with mosquito larvae.
- The prison guard unlocked the door of the cell. After completing the repairs, he replaced the sump guard.
- In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on top of a high hill?
Forms of sump
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | sumps |
| alternative form (obsolete) | sumph |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | sumps |
| present participle | sumping |
| past participle | sumped |
| past | sumped |
Origin of sump
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.
Words formed from sump
Phrases with sump
Words that rhyme with sump
18 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about sump
- What does sump mean?
- Sump means a hollow or pit into which liquid drains, such as a cesspool, cesspit or sink.
- What is sump in Tamil?
- Sump in Tamil is கட்டுத் தொட்டி, தேக்கத் தொட்டி, வடி குட்டை. See Sump meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is sump?
- Sump can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce sump?
- Sump is pronounced /sʌmp/.
- What is the plural of sump?
- The plural of sump is sumps.
Words near sump in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sump (page history and authors); sump (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sump (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sump (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-sump.ogg.
Cite this entry: “sump.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sump. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.