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What is "plunge"

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plunge
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
plunge
I.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be plunged into darkness (=be suddenly in darkness because the lights go out)
▪ Suddenly the electricity went off and we were plunged into darkness.
be thrown/plunged into chaos
▪ A serious accident has thrown the roads into chaos.
dive/fall/jump/plunge head-first
▪ I fell head-first down the stairs.
low/plunging neckline (=leaving part of the chest uncovered)
▪ Her evening gown had a plunging neckline.
plunge into recession (=start to experience a deep recession)
▪ The US is about to plunge into recession.
plunging neckline
profits slump/plunge (=fall by a large amount)
▪ The group’s pre-tax profits slumped to £25.5m.
throw/plunge sb into confusion
▪ The unexpected news threw us all into confusion.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
ahead
▪ Despite the efforts of Starbuck and Stubb to abandon the mad chase, the Pequod plunges ahead.
back
▪ From here he could observe the great world outside, before plunging back into it.
▪ He circled his right leg and plunged back into the water, soaking his master from head to foot.
▪ Her face was plunged back into shadow.
▪ You can plunge back into obscurity or put your hide on the line.
▪ But Victorians, who are the yo-yo team of senior hockey, again plunge back to Section Two hockey next season.
▪ He plunged back in and struck his head against her foot.
▪ Abruptly the dream finished and she was plunged back into reality.
▪ Owen drew breath and plunged back to the little group, still hemmed into a few yards of the pathway.
down
▪ His car had plunged down a motorway verge and into a wooden fence.
▪ Then he just wandered away, hands plunged down the back of his underpants with misery.
▪ The jitney turned, plunging down a bumpy alley.
▪ Shots spiked the air and night plunged down on them as Ember shot the lights out.
▪ The track plunged down into it and emerged on the other side.
▪ And then it plunged down and down and down.
headlong
▪ Up went a roar as he plunged headlong into the stew.
in
▪ He was still suffering from jet-lag but opted to plunge in at the deep end against Monaghan.
▪ Not only is production expanding rapidly as foreign mining outfits plunge in, world coal prices have been rising.
▪ You will not always be understood, or always understand people's response to you, but plunge in anyway.
▪ When my turn comes I take a deep breath and plunge in.
▪ Then he plunged in, and when he saw he was correct, punched the air with a raised left hand.
▪ A.R. We've plunged in with the practical details rather than training itself.
▪ Tempting, he thought. Plunge in and head for the fire tower.
off
▪ The barriers are so low you feel you could plunge off at any second.
▪ Industries find their foreign markets slowly shrinking rather than finding themselves plunging off an economic cliff.
▪ Sabine cried out in horror as the Peugeot swerved crazily, and plunged off the road.
on
▪ So one bio-day placidly followed another, the ship plunged on through Highlight, and nothing at all of importance happened.
▪ The blade plunged on into the heather at the side of the track.
▪ On the evening of 20 November the Prime Minister's swift decision to fight on plunged the Conservatives into almost total disarray.
▪ The government was plunging on into uncharted waters without a pilot or perhaps a map.
straight
▪ To Grasmere, then, they had come in their own kind of innocence and plunged straight into a storm.
▪ I shall begin this evening at the top of the pile and plunge straight through to the bottom.
▪ Suddenly, they both jumped up, pulled off their remaining cotton restrictions and plunged straight into the water.
▪ The buildings gathered themselves into the rock which plunged straight into the ground, like an island into the sea.
▪ Only he has this strange twist of plunging straight into what matters.
■ NOUN
chaos
▪ To his supporters, Rawlings remains an incorruptible savior and pragmatist who kept the country from plunging into chaos.
▪ The country was plunged into economic chaos.
▪ Apparently Merton College had refused to take northern students and Oxford had been plunged into chaos and riot.
company
▪ Paint company Colorin plunged the daily 15 percent limit to 1. 597 pesos.
country
▪ Because that would plunge the country deeper into violence.
▪ The failure of the ruling Socialist Party to reform the economy has plunged the country into disaster.
darkness
▪ Teal Green was coughing up a lungful of smoke when the Base was plunged into darkness.
▪ The lights dim, then go off, plunging the hall into darkness.
▪ Just as the teacher was getting into her stride, the whole school was plunged into darkness.
▪ Finally she left the room, only to turn off the power switch, which plunged the house into darkness.
▪ Streets and homes have been plunged into random darkness.
▪ Lily moved away from him and pressed the switch that plunged the room into darkness.
▪ The universe was about to be plunged again into eternal darkness.
▪ With his house plunged into darkness, Jessie's owner sought my help.
death
▪ As the sun shrank the ledge, he waited to plunge to his death into a crevasse.
▪ And she plunges to her death.
depth
▪ The shelves come to an abrupt stop as the protruding land masses plunge into the depths.
▪ Drillers would plunge through a record depth of water to pierce farther into the ocean floor than anyone had gone before.
foot
▪ Below the bushes lay a ledge and then a sheer rock face plunging forty feet to the clay-reddened lake.
▪ Unbalanced, he was forced to plunge his foot back in to stop himself from falling headlong.
▪ He started to cross the street, plunging a foot into the imaginary flood.
hand
▪ Doubting Thomas, I stared for a couple of seconds before plunging my hand in.
▪ I finally plunged my hand into the mess of comb.
▪ He closed his eyes and plunged his hand in, to get it over with.
▪ Yanto hesitated for a moment then plunged his hands into the evil smelling, mess.
▪ I plunged my hands wrist deep in the fragrant herbs, and rubbed the dry fragments between the fingertips.
▪ When it happens, rub the fingers vigorously or plunge the hands into warm water.
knife
▪ As for his would-be assassin, the Tories took turns yesterday to plunge the knife into Mr Lamont.
▪ By plunging a knife into the sore spots-dependence, lack of democracy, powerlessness-the Gulf War shattered something deep within us.
▪ Surprise doesn't register, instead, Devito plunges an eight-inch carving knife purposefully and repeatedly into the victim's stomach.
▪ The next morning, after the wedding ceremony, the toad told his bride to plunge a knife into his back.
▪ Ironic, he thought, that Müller had plunged the knife in to her back instead of the other way round.
▪ Repeatedly he plunged his knife into the bewildered officer's head and chest until he collapsed.
▪ Von Steinholz plunged the knife into the birthday cake and cut the first piece.
▪ A crazed killer plunged a knife into his eye as he waited on a crowded platform.
market
▪ And if the market plunges, many Wall Street newcomers might dump stocks and mutual funds as quickly as they bought them.
▪ After teetering at record highs for weeks, the market plunged 171 points Friday on news that suggested inflation was heating up.
▪ In November the market plunged briefly, and financial Darwinism prevailed.
▪ On Oct. 19, the market plunged by more than 500 points, a 22 percent drop.
percent
▪ Its profits plunged 60 percent to £31 million, though Sir Robert said remedial measures were now in place.
▪ Since Monday, the shares have plunged 10 percent.
▪ But since figures were worked out, many house values have plunged by 25 percent.
▪ Precious-metals funds did worst, plunging 6. 6 percent.
▪ Alphameric was the day's major casualty with its shares plunging 32 percent to 23p as hopes for its profit recovery faded.
▪ Paint company Colorin plunged the daily 15 percent limit to 1. 597 pesos.
▪ The worst bear market lasted from September 1929 through July 1932, when stocks plunged about 90 percent.
▪ Copper prices have plunged 14 percent in the past month.
points
▪ After teetering at record highs for weeks, the market plunged 171 points Friday on news that suggested inflation was heating up.
▪ The yield, a reflection of economic growth and inflation expectations, plunged 10 basis points to 6. 05 percent.
▪ The yield on the five-year 5. 875 percent note plunged 6 basis points to 4. 44 percent.
▪ Troubles abroad sent the Dow plunging 554 points Monday, its worst point drop ever.
price
▪ But as the price plunged, the government saw its sources of funding evaporating.
▪ Copper prices have plunged 14 percent in the past month.
▪ Fears are now rife that the price could plunge well below 30p by the end of the year.
▪ Gas prices have plunged 31 percent in less than a week.
profit
▪ Its profits plunged 60 percent to £31 million, though Sir Robert said remedial measures were now in place.
▪ As worldwide demand for its products stays flat and costs remain high, half-year profits have plunged 70% to £15.1m.
recession
▪ This would hit struggling homebuyers and businessmen, plunging Britain deeper into recession.
▪ And it was coupled with devastating figures showing Britain had plunged deeper into recession.
▪ It was feared that a severe liquidity crisis might ensue and that the world economy would then be plunged into economic recession.
▪ In addition, hotel and property values have plunged in the recession.
sea
▪ Selvagem Grande is a plateau from which 100m high cliffs plunge into the sea.
▪ When he came to his senses, the boat was plunging through a heavy sea.
stock
▪ At just over 520p, the stock has plunged a third in 12 months.
▪ The stock plunged 3 1 / 4 to 28 5 / 8.
▪ On financial markets today, bonds and stocks plunged amid growing pessimism about an early balanced-budget accord.
▪ The stock plunged 3 1 / 8 to 29 3 / 4.
▪ Concern that White House and congressional negotiators were unable to reach an agreement to balance the budget helped send stocks plunging yesterday.
▪ The worst bear market lasted from September 1929 through July 1932, when stocks plunged about 90 percent.
water
▪ She wasn't quick enough to let go and it overbalanced her and she plunged into the water next to him.
▪ He circled his right leg and plunged back into the water, soaking his master from head to foot.
▪ Drain in strainer and immediately plunge beans into ice water.
▪ Her feet were plunged into the water.
▪ But so desperate was she to see her prince that she plunged into the water and drowned.
▪ Suddenly, they both jumped up, pulled off their remaining cotton restrictions and plunged straight into the water.
world
▪ He decided eventually that to embrace Buddhism would be to plunge into a world too culturally alien.
▪ Not only is production expanding rapidly as foreign mining outfits plunge in, world coal prices have been rising.
▪ At this point I was plunged into a world of terror in which voices were changed and objects were distorted.
■ VERB
send
▪ Bernard spotted a dynamic personality and sent Moira plunging into her new job.
▪ And what will send me soaring and plunging?
▪ Concern that White House and congressional negotiators were unable to reach an agreement to balance the budget helped send stocks plunging yesterday.
▪ Troubles abroad sent the Dow plunging 554 points Monday, its worst point drop ever.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
rush/plunge headlong into sth
▪ Stockbrokers should prevent their clients from plunging headlong into trouble.
▪ Up went a roar as he plunged headlong into the stew.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Plunging both hands deep into the sack she rummaged among the parcels.
▪ A skydiver plunged to his death yesterday when his parachute failed to open.
▪ Colin plunged into the icy water.
▪ I plunged in fully-clothed and pulled her to the river bank.
▪ She plunged herself into her writing.
▪ The aeroplane's engines failed and it plunged into the ocean.
▪ The President's popularity has plunged dramatically in recent weeks.
▪ The two women sat down in a corner and plunged into an animated conversation.
▪ Their car swerved to avoid a truck, and plunged off the cliff.
▪ Then he plunged the knife into his victim's chest.
▪ Three men left the truck and plunged into the woods.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ As the sun shrank the ledge, he waited to plunge to his death into a crevasse.
▪ Concern that White House and congressional negotiators were unable to reach an agreement to balance the budget helped send stocks plunging yesterday.
▪ Fastenal plunged 4 to 38 on Nasdaq.
▪ In addition to investor skittishness over the impeachment threat, the technology sector plunged for the third consecutive day.
▪ Many Conservatives still recalled the disarray into which the Macmillan administration had plunged after its striking election victory in 1959.
▪ These are rocket-shaped projectiles loaded with vitrified waste, and dumped from ships to plunge into soft sediments on the ocean floor.
▪ Thomas plunged his arm deep into the creature's mouth and then forced his fist upwards through the larynx.
▪ Witnesses recalled a clap of wood and the sight of Bailey plunging toward the ground, then his dangling body spinning hard.
II.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
take
▪ Now they've taken a plunge into the dive computer market and the outcome is the DataMax Sport.
▪ And once you do take the plunge, avoid the computer ads for at least a year.
▪ Until then, our Buying With Confidence section on page 66 explains how to protect yourself when you take the plunge.
▪ Inspired by the Sixties, we asked a few brave souls to take the plunge and dress up like latter-day Twiggys.
▪ While San Diego and other communities debated alternatives for replacing their aging airports, Denver took the plunge in a big way.
▪ For some years I have been thinking of buying a word processor but have not yet taken the plunge.
▪ So, last week I got a pressure cooker and took the plunge.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a plunge in the lake
▪ Myers was severely injured in the plunge from the top of the hotel.
▪ There has been a 10% plunge in stock prices.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Inspired by the Sixties, we asked a few brave souls to take the plunge and dress up like latter-day Twiggys.
▪ Instead, Greenspan welcomed the stock plunge, saying it had chilled an overheated market.
▪ She continued to eke out a living based on the fading memories of her famous plunge.
▪ She looked towards the Archdeacon and recognised the signs of some one about to take the plunge.
▪ The worst postwar bear market struck in 1973-1974, a Dow Jones plunge of 45 percent.
▪ What if he were to be punished for his vengeance by a plunge into the nerve-glove?
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Plunge

Plunge \Plunge\, v. i.

  1. To thrust or cast one's self into water or other fluid; to submerge one's self; to dive, or to rush in; as, he plunged into the river. Also used figuratively; as, to plunge into debt.

    Forced to plunge naked in the raging sea.
    --Dryden.

    To plunge into guilt of a murther.
    --Tillotson.

  2. To pitch or throw one's self headlong or violently forward, as a horse does.

    Some wild colt, which . . . flings and plunges.
    --Bp. Hall.

  3. To bet heavily and with seeming recklessness on a race, or other contest; in an extended sense, to risk large sums in hazardous speculations. [Cant]

    Plunging fire (Gun.), firing directed upon an enemy from an elevated position.

Plunge

Plunge \Plunge\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plunged; p. pr. & vb. n. Plunging.] [OE. ploungen, OF. plongier, F. plonger, fr. (assumed) LL. plumbicare, fr. L. plumbum lead. See Plumb.]

  1. To thrust into water, or into any substance that is penetrable; to immerse; to cause to penetrate or enter quickly and forcibly; to thrust; as, to plunge the body into water; to plunge a dagger into the breast. Also used figuratively; as, to plunge a nation into war. ``To plunge the boy in pleasing sleep.''
    --Dryden.

    Bound and plunged him into a cell.
    --Tennyson.

    We shall be plunged into perpetual errors.
    --I. Watts.

  2. To baptize by immersion.

  3. To entangle; to embarrass; to overcome. [Obs.]

    Plunged and graveled with three lines of Seneca.
    --Sir T. Browne.

Plunge

Plunge \Plunge\, n.

  1. The act of thrusting into or submerging; a dive, leap, rush, or pitch into, or as into, water; as, to take the water with a plunge.

  2. Hence, a desperate hazard or act; a state of being submerged or overwhelmed with difficulties. [R.]

    She was brought to that plunge, to conceal her husband's murder or accuse her son.
    --Sir P. Sidney.

    And with thou not reach out a friendly arm, To raise me from amidst this plunge of sorrows?
    --Addison.

  3. The act of pitching or throwing one's self headlong or violently forward, like an unruly horse.

  4. Heavy and reckless betting in horse racing; hazardous speculation. [Cant]

    Plunge bath, an immersion by plunging; also, a large bath in which the bather can wholly immerse himself.

    Plunge battery, or plunging battery (Elec.), a voltaic battery so arranged that the plates can be plunged into, or withdrawn from, the exciting liquid at pleasure.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
plunge

late 14c., "to put or thrust violently into," also intransitive, from Old French plongier "plunge, sink into; plunge into, dive in" (mid-12c., Modern French plonger), from Vulgar Latin *plumbicare "to heave the lead," from Latin plumbum "lead" (see plumb (n.)). Original notion perhaps is of a sounding lead or a fishing net weighted with lead. Related: Plunged; plunging. Plunging neckline attested from 1949.

plunge

c.1400, "deep pool," from plunge (v.). From late 15c. as "a sudden pitch forward;" meaning "act of plunging" is from 1711. Figurative use in take the plunge "commit oneself" is from 1845, from earlier noun sense of "point of being in trouble or danger" (1530s).

Wiktionary
plunge

n. 1 the act of plunging or submerging 2 a dive, leap, rush, or pitch into (into water) 3 (context figuratively English) the act of pitching or throwing one's self headlong or violently forward, like an unruly horse 4 (context slang English) heavy and reckless betting in horse racing; hazardous speculation 5 (context obsolete English) an immersion in difficulty, embarrassment, or distress; the condition of being surrounded or overwhelmed; a strait; difficulty vb. 1 (label en transitive) To thrust into water, or into any substance that is penetrable; to immerse. 2 (label en figuratively transitive) To cast or throw into some thing, state, condition or action. 3 (label en transitive obsolete) To baptize by immersion. 4 (label en intransitive) To dive, leap or rush (into water or some liquid); to submerge one's self. 5 (label en figuratively intransitive) To fall or rush headlong into some thing, action, state or condition.

Related phrases:
WordNet
plunge

  1. n. a brief swim in water [syn: dip]

  2. a steep and rapid fall

plunge

  1. v. thrust or throw into; "Immerse yourself in hot water" [syn: immerse]

  2. drop steeply; "the stock market plunged" [syn: dive, plunk]

  3. dash violently or with great speed or impetuosity; "She plunged at it eagerly"

  4. begin with vigor; "He launched into a long diatribe"; "She plunged into a dangerous adventure" [syn: launch]

  5. cause to be immersed; "The professor plunged his students into the study of the Italian text" [syn: immerse]

  6. fall abruptly; "It plunged to the bottom of the well" [syn: dump]

  7. immerse briefly into a liquid so as to wet, coat, or saturate; "dip the garment into the cleaning solution"; "dip the brush into the paint" [syn: dunk, dip, souse, douse]

  8. engross (oneself) fully; "He immersed himself into his studies" [syn: steep, immerse, engulf, engross, absorb, soak up]

Wikipedia
Plungė

Plungė (, Samogitian: Plongė, Yiddish: פּלונגיאַן) is a city in Lithuania with 23,246 inhabitants. It has a crab stick factory which exports to many countries in Europe.

Before World War II, Plungė had a large Jewish population (see The Holocaust in Lithuania).

Plunge

Plunge may refer to:

  • Plunge (American football), a play in American football
  • Plunge (geology), the inclination of a surface or axis of an anticline to the horizontal
  • The Plunge, a historic swim center in Richmond California
  • Plunge Creek, a river in Alaska
  • Plungė, a city in Lithuania
  • Plunge was the former name for the American rock band Cinder Road
  • Plunge, a type of waterfall
  • Plunge (gambling), sudden support for a horse in a race
  • A swim center in Belmont Park (San Diego)
  • Plunge for distance, a former diving event
Related phrases:

Usage examples of "plunge".

He was like an acrophobe edging along a precipitous path, scared to look down, afraid of losing his balance and falling accidentally, afraid too of the impulse that might lead him to plunge purposefully into the void.

The truly afflicting condition in which the remains of an army called triumphant were plunged, produced, as might well be expected, a corresponding impression on the mind of the General-in-Chief.

Hast thou plunged thy house in calamity, and will no worthier wish occur to thee, than to leave it to its sorrows and distress, with the aggravating pangs of causing thy afflicting, however blamable self-desertion?

In the above incidents, those gentle moralizers who find the serious philosophy of the music dramas too terrifying for them, may allegorize pleasingly on the philtre as the maddening chalice of passion which, once tasted, causes the respectable man to forget his lawfully wedded wife and plunge into adventures which eventually lead him headlong to destruction.

Mistress Anan studied him with her arms folded beneath her breasts in a way that increased the generous cleavage displayed by her plunging neckline.

Cola di Rienzi that plunged Rome into anarchy, the plague came as the peak of successive calamities.

After relieving myself, anticipating the end of detachment and a plunge into ecstasy, I turned about only to find Xaefyer waiting for me just beyond the doorway.

What I learned now was that the LSD retreat and inward plunge can be compared to an essential schizophrenia, and the antinomianism of contemporary youth to a paranoid schizophrenia.

I learned now was that the LSD retreat and inward plunge can be compared to an essential schizophrenia, and the antinomianism of contemporary youth to a paranoid schizophrenia.

A shriek of astounded terror accompanied his plunge to the flagstones below.

And while in ballooning there is no wind, since the balloon is a part of the wind, flying is a wild perpetual creation of and plunging into wind.

He barked with fury, and before his master could restrain him, he had plunged a second time into the lake.

Gilles and Anisia, married less than two months, had seemed young and frightened, full of childish trepidations, their mourning for Thomas Blas more a matter of alarm that they had been plunged into the charge of an isolated rural estate than of grief at his untimely death.

Pope, in the center of the picture, who is talking with the bonnetless Doge--talking tranquilly, too, although within twelve feet of them a man is beating a drum, and not far from the drummer two persons are blowing horns, and many horsemen are plunging and rioting about--indeed, twenty-two feet of this great work is all a deep and happy holiday serenity and Sunday-school procession, and then we come suddenly upon eleven and one-half feet of turmoil and racket and insubordination.

If her last plunge snapped off the bowsprit, his task would be complete.