- a piece of something hard or solid, usually without a particular shape
- a lump of coal/cheese/wood
- This sauce has lumps in it.
Extra Examples- a heavy lump of clay
- He put a few more lumps of coal on the fire.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- big
- giant
- great
- …
- have
- detect
- discover
- …
- form
- grow
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- (informal) (also sugar lump (British English), North American English sugar cube)a small cube of sugar, used in cups of tea or coffee
- One lump or two?
- a swelling (= an area that is larger and rounder than normal) under the skin, sometimes a sign of serious illness
- He was unhurt apart from a lump on his head.
- Check your breasts for lumps every month.
Extra ExamplesTopics Health problemsc1- He's developed a painful lump on his neck.
- She felt a lump in her breast.
- Surgeons operated to remove the lump.
- Tests confirmed the lump was cancerous.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- big
- giant
- great
- …
- have
- detect
- discover
- …
- form
- grow
- (especially British English, informal, disapproving) a heavy, lazy or stupid person
- Come on, you big lump—time to get up.
Word Originnoun Middle English: perhaps from a Germanic base meaning ‘shapeless piece’; compare with Danish lump ‘lump’, Norwegian and Swedish dialect lump ‘block, log’, and Dutch lomp ‘rag’.
Idioms
See lump in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee lump in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishhave, etc. a lump in your throat
- to feel pressure in the throat because you are very angry or emotional
take your lumps
- (North American English, informal) to accept bad things that happen to you without complaining
- We made mistakes but we took our lumps.
Check pronunciation:
lump