different between portly vs plump

English

Etymology

From port +? -ly.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p??tli/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p??tli/, /?po??tli/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /?po?tli?/

Adjective

portly (comparative portlier, superlative portliest)

1. Somewhat fat, pudgy, overweight. [from 15th c.]
   • 1824, Washington Irving, Tales of a Traveller, Introduction:

     Indeed, the poor man has grown ten times as nervous as ever, since he has discovered, on such good authority, who the stout gentleman was. . . . He has anxiously endeavored to call up a recollection of what he saw of that portly personage; and has ever since kept a curious eye on all gentlemen of more than ordinary dimensions.

   • 1913, P. G. Wodehouse, The Little Nugget, ch. 14:

     His portly middle section, rising beyond like a small hill, heaved rhythmically.

   • 2011 July 6, Nick Carbone, "Top 10 Worst Fictional Camp Counselors," Time (retrieved 8 May 2014):

     In Heavyweights, Tony Perkis (Ben Stiller) is a fitness guru who installs himself as the über-buff leader of Camp Hope, with the goal of helping portly youngsters shed their saggy stomachs and thunder thighs.

2. (now rare) Having a dignified bearing; handsome, imposing. [from 15th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.2:

     Portly his person was, and much increast

     Through his Heroicke grace and honourable gest.

   • 1728, Jonathan Swift, "A Dialogue between Mad Mullinix and Timothy":

     Be studious well to imitate

     My portly motion, mien, and gait

Usage notes

• When used to refer to someone who is overweight, portly is a less harsh term than fat.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:obese

Derived terms

• portliness

Translations

See also

• portly at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• protyl, tropyl

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pl?mp/
• Rhymes: -?mp

Etymology 1

From Middle English plump, plompe, a borrowing from Middle Dutch plomp or Middle Low German plump.

Adjective

plump (comparative plumper or more plump, superlative plumpest or most plump)

1. Having a full and rounded shape; chubby, somewhat overweight.
   • 1651, Thomas Carew, To my friend G. N. from Wrest

     The god of wine did his plump clusters bring.

   • 2015, Anton Chekhov, The Life and Genius of Anton Chekhov: Letters, Diary, Reminiscences and Biography: Assorted Collection of Autobiographical Writings of the Renowned Russian Author and Playwright of Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard, The Three Sisters and The Seagull, e-artnow (?ISBN)

     My ideal is to be idle and to love a plump girl.
2. Fat.
3. Sudden and without reservation; blunt; direct; downright.
   • 1898, George Saintsbury, A Short History of English Literature

     After the plump statement that the author was at Erceldoune and spake with Thomas.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:obese

Antonyms

• See also Thesaurus:scrawny

Translations

Verb

plump (third-person singular simple present plumps, present participle plumping, simple past and past participle plumped)

1. (intransitive) To grow plump; to swell out.

   Her cheeks have plumped.

2. (transitive) To make plump; to fill (out) or support; often with up.

   to plump oysters or scallops by placing them in fresh or brackish water

   • to plump up the hollowness of their history with improbable miracles

3. (transitive) To cast or let drop all at once, suddenly and heavily.

   to plump a stone into water

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

     Although Miss Pross, through her long association with a French family, might have known as much of their language as of her own, if she had had a mind, she had no mind in that direction […] So her manner of marketing was to plump a noun-substantive at the head of a shopkeeper without any introduction in the nature of an article […]

4. (intransitive) To give a plumper (kind of vote).
5. (transitive) To give (a vote), as a plumper.
6. (transitive with for) To favor or decide in favor of something.

Etymology 2

From Middle English plumpen, akin to Middle Dutch plompen, Middle Low German plumpen, German plumpfen.

Verb

plump (third-person singular simple present plumps, present participle plumping, simple past and past participle plumped)

1. (intransitive) To drop or fall suddenly or heavily, all at once.
   • September 24, 1712, The Spectator No. 492, letter from a prude

     Dulcissa plumps into a chair.

Translations

Adverb

plump

1. Directly; suddenly; perpendicularly.

Noun

plump (plural plumps)

1. The sound of a sudden heavy fall.

Etymology 3

From Middle English plump.

Noun

plump (plural plumps)

1. (obsolete) A knot or cluster; a group; a crowd.

References

• plump in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pl?mp/

Adjective

plump (comparative plumper, superlative am plumpesten)

1. crude, clumsy
2. squat, stumpy

Declension

Further reading

• “plump” in Duden online

Irish

Etymology

Onomatopoeic

Pronunciation

• (Cois Fharraige) IPA^(key): /p?l???m?p?/

Noun

plump f (genitive singular plumpa, nominative plural plumpanna)

1. Cois Fharraige form of plimp

Declension

Derived terms

• plumpaíl

Mutation

Further reading

• "plump" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?p?l?mp]

Adjective

plump

1. big and awkward
2. base, vulgar