| 释义 |
▪ I. plunge, n.|plʌndʒ|
[f. plunge v.]
I.
1. a. A place where one plunges or may plunge; a deep pool, a depth. Obs. exc. dial.
a1400–50Alexander 5546 In at a wicket he went, & wynly it speris; Princes pointid it with pik, & he þe plunge entres [L. descendit in profundum maris]. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xxxiii. 113 And he lay at the plunge evirmair, Sa lang as any ravin did rair. 1847–78Halliwell, Plunge, a deep pool. Somerset.
b. = plunge bed (see sense 8 below).
1973Times 22 Sept. 13/2 If we have..an Indian summer, water the ‘plunge’ regularly.
2. An act of plunging; a sudden downward or head-foremost movement into water or the like; a dive, dip; also fig. Esp. in phr. to take (less frequently make) the plunge, to take a decisive first step, to commit oneself irrevocably to a course of action.
1711Addison Spect. No. 94 ⁋9 After his first Plunge into the Sea. 1845Dickens Let. 20 Oct. (1977) IV. 412 The venture is quite decided on; and I have made the Plunge. 1848Thackeray Pendennis (1849) I. vi. 61 The poor boy had taken the plunge. Trembling with passionate emotion,..poor Pen had said those words which he could withhold no more. 1863E. V. Neale Anal. Th. & Nat. 113 Descartes..was preserved by his strong sense of personal activity, from sinking his individuality in the ocean of being. But..the plunge was made by Malebranche and Spinoza. 1873Black Pr. Thule x, Her first plunge into the pleasures of civilized life. 1876Trollope Prime Minister IV. x. 162 ‘You would not wish to live all your life in terror of seeing Arthur Fletcher?’ ‘Not all my life.’ ‘Take the plunge and it will be over.’ 1883Stevenson Treas. Isl. iii. xiii, The plunge of our anchor sent up clouds of birds wheeling and crying over the woods. a1911[see limit n. 2 h]. 1915W. Owen Let. 15 Jan. (1967) 316 If I could devote myself to training in Music or Painting, I would take the plunge, were I never to read a book more. 1965New Statesman 23 Apr. 630/3 At present only one local Co-op..is affiliated to Transport House, though London is thought to be contemplating taking the plunge. 1977C. McCullough Thorn Birds xviii. 460, I think she's terrified of committing herself to..marriage... At least he's got the sense to wait until she's ready to take the plunge. 1979G. Wagner Barnardo xi. 183 Samuel Smith..finally persuaded Barnardo to take the plunge and set up his own emigration scheme.
3. transf.
a. A sudden and heavy or violent pitching forward of the body.
1496Bk. St. Albans, Fishing 20 Kepe hym [the fish] euer vnder the rodde..: soo that your lyne may susteyne and beere his lepys and his plungys [a 1450 plumbes: see plump n.3 1]. 1589Nashe Pasquil's Ret. Wks. (Grosart) I. 123 Like a furious beast wrapt in the cordes..after many a vayne plunge which he giues to breake away. 1889R. S. S. Baden-Powell Pigsticking 106 By directing the animal's plunges judiciously I got him also on terra firma.
b. A heavy downward blow.
1836E. Howard R. Reefer xiii, Two boys fight..; one of them gets a plunge on the nose.
4. The fall or breaking of a wave; a heavy downpour of rain (rare).
1781Gentl. Mag. LI. 616 The weight of the former [water spout], by heavy plunges raised the sea into mountains. c1841Carlyle in Atlantic Monthly (1898) LXXXII. 450/2 Before that it was as bad as weather at any time need be: long continued plunges of wet [etc.]. 1862Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 96 Then walk or ride three hours under a plunge of rain. 1862Longfellow Wayside Inn i. Prel. 264 The plunge of the implacable seas.
II.
5. The point of being plunged or overwhelmed in trouble, difficulty, or danger; a critical situation, crisis, pinch, stress, strait; a dilemma; esp. in phr. at (in) a plunge, to put to or into the plunge or plunges. Obs. exc. dial.
1535Fisher Wks. (E.E.T.S.) i. 415 When a person hath deserued a great open shame, & is broght euen to the plunge of the matter, and yet by the meanes of helpe he is deliuered. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 186 To bee putte to the plounge or makynge or marryng &..to wynne al, or to lese al. 1553Short Catech. in Liturgies, etc. (Parker Soc.) 522 We beseech our Father, that he bring us into no such hard escape and peril, nor leave us in the very plunge of danger. 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 900/2 Or if it bee the deuill that worketh by the inchaunters hands, will not men say that God is put to his plunges to ouercome Satan? 1611Cotgr. s.v. Breviaire, Il est au bout de son breviaire, he is at a plunge, or nonplus; he hath no more to say. c1656Sir H. Cholmley Mem. (1870) 28 When I was in the greatest plunge for money. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 264 The Captain demanding payment of his Money, put the Prince to a great plunge. 1740Warburton Div. Legat. vi. vi. III. 670 As he had no great Stock of Argument,..at a Plunge any Thing would be acceptable that came to his Relief. 1780Harris Philol. Enquiries Wks. (1841) 454 At length, after various plunges and various escapes, it [the Eastern empire] was totally annihilated in the fifteenth century. 1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Plunge, a strait, a difficulty. ‘I was put to a plunge’. 1884Upton-on-Severn Gloss., Plunge, a falling into, or going under trouble or sickness.
III. 6. = plonge.
1859F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 260 The top [of the parapet] is formed with a slight declivity towards the country, which is called the superior slope, or plunge.
7. Geol. The angle a fold axis or linear feature makes with the horizontal, measured in a vertical plane. Cf. pitch n.2 24 b.
1913W. Lindgren Min. Deposits xi. 142 The plunge1..of an ore-body is the vertical angle between a horizontal plane and the line of maximum elongation of the body. In lenticular ore-bodies in metamorphic rocks which have undergone strong mechanical deformation, the plunge is an important factor, and often it is determined by the direction of the cleavage or schistosity. [Note] 1Called ‘pitch’ or ‘rake’ by many authors. 1932Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists XVI. 209 The type of fold is an overturned anticline in which the plunge increases from a comparatively low degree until it becomes vertical and finally overturns. 1936C. M. Nevin Princ. Structural Geol. (ed. 2) iii. 43 The angle of dip of the axial line [of a fold] is called the pitch or plunge. 1962[see pitch n.2 24 b]. 1976B. E. Hobbs et al. Outl. Structural Geol. iv. 177 The orientation of the hinge line or, since the fold is cylindrical, its axis, is expressed by its plunge and direction of plunge... The orientation of a line can also be expressed by means of its pitch... For pitch to be meaningful the orientation of the plane must be known.
IV.
8. attrib. and Comb., as (in sense ‘done by or used with a plunge’) plunge-bath, plunge-net; plunge basin Physical Geogr., a deep basin excavated at the foot of a waterfall by the action of the falling water; plunge bed, a flower-bed, often containing peat or other moisture-retaining material, in which plants in pots can be sunk; plunge-board rare, a diving board; plunge-churn, a simple form of churn consisting of an upright wooden cask in which a plunger is worked up and down; plunge cut Engin., a cut made by feeding a grinding wheel into the work-piece in the plane of rotation, without any traverse; usu. attrib. in plunge-cut grinding (= plunge grinding); so plunge cutting; plunge grinding Engin., grinding by means of a wheel with no traverse of the work; plunge neck, neckline = plunging neckline s.v. plunging ppl. a. e; hence plunge-necked a.; plunge-pole, the hollow pump-rod of a pumping-engine (Ogilvie, 1882); plunge pool, (a) Physical Geogr., a plunge basin, or the water occupying one; freq. attrib.; (b) a cold-water pool, forming part of the equipment of a sauna bath.
1905Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. XVI. 24 A river can excavate a *plunge-basin at the foot of a cataract. 1939A. K. Lobeck Geomorphol. vi. 195 There are several other plunge basins along the course of this former stream. 1966J. Wyckoff Rock, Time, & Landforms x. 231 Today there is likely to be a waterfall at the mouth of the hanging trough, and beneath the fall perhaps a plunge basin or an alluvial cone or fan.
1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. ix. 99 Submitting ourselves to a succession of *plunge-baths as often as we trusted our weight on the ice-capped stones above the surface. 1896Pall Mall Mag. May 37 Taking headers into the large plunge bath there [at Marylebone Gardens].
1871S. Hibberd Amateur's Flower Garden xiii. 242 The question now is about the formation of the *plunge beds. 1935A. G. L. Hellyer Practical Gardening xxx. 193 (caption) A useful plunge bed for pot plants. 1973Times 22 Sept. 13/2 Pot them the same day if possible, and put them in their peat ‘plunge bed’.
1908Daily Chron. 15 Feb. 8/5 When a man wants to take a second plunge into the water he has to get out and remount the *plunge-board.
1815Pennecuik's Wks. 84 note, A wooden armed chair..a few stools..and a *plunge churn, completes the inventory of household furniture. 1844Stephens Bk. Farm III. 899 The old⁓fashioned upright hand plunge-churn is now confined chiefly to the use of small farmers and cottars.
1935O. W. Boston Engin. Shop Practice II. v. 268 An automatic in-feed mechanism..is contained in the saddle... This is used for *plunge cuts and is independent of the traverse in-feed mechanism. 1937Colvin & Stanley Grinding Practice i. 7 The wheel in this instance is fed into within 0·001 to 0·0015 in. of size, using the plunge cut and making as many plunges as are necessary to cover each section ground. 1941F. D. Jones Engin. Encycl. II. 971 Plunge-cut grinding, this term has been applied to grinding which is done by directly feeding into the work a wheel, the face of which is sufficiently wide to cover the entire surface being ground. 1964S. Crawford Basic Engin. Processes vii. 190 The wheel is fed slowly into the work while the latter is oscillated a very slight amount to equalise the wheel wear. This method is known as plunge-cut grinding.
1972E. N. Simons Dict. Machining 142 *Plunge cutting, a method of grooving parts to close limits of size with an accurately-positioned brazed carbide tool. 1974Sci. Amer. Jan. 35/3 A process known as plunge cutting is employed to cut holes in a metal casting.
1935O. W. Boston Engin. Shop Practice II. v. 265 When the wheel face is as wide as the length of the surface being ground or when it is impracticable to traverse the work, the wheel may be fed in with no traverse of the wheel or work. This is called *plunge grinding. 1958Times Rev. Industry May 34/3 The workpiece is then released, so that it can be rotated by means of the control wheel while plunge⁓grinding is being carried out. 1967Industr. Diamond Rev. XXVII. 437/2 In plunge grinding, the whole depth of profile is normally ground in one pass.
1951Sunday Times 28 Oct. 11/3 Some [spencers], sleeveless and with a *plunge neck, give never a sign of their comforting presence beneath cocktail dresses and chiffon blouses.
1959Woman's Own 20 June 17/4 She was wearing a *plunge-necked dress of some white material.
1949Sun (Baltimore) 28 Jan. 4 (Advt.), *Plunge neckline wool jersey glamour blouse. 1959‘O. Mills’ Stairway to Murder v. 50 Its plunge neckline was so low that Geoff was almost driven for safety to the handwoven wool and Fair Isle cardigan. 1977M. Hinxman One-Way Cemetery xv. 112 Daphne delved into her deep plunge neckline and retrieved a gold chain.
1883F. Day Indian Fish 64 (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) Choba.—A *plunge-net, used chiefly in shallow water to capture fish which lay half-concealed in the mud. From Poona.
1917Scientific Monthly V. 559 *Plunge pools are potholes, in general, of large size, occurring at the foot of a vertical or nearly vertical waterfall... In most plunge pools the water is much deeper than it is in the stream channel on their downstream side. 1932Jrnl. Geol. XL. 333 By recession of the falls the plunge-pool hole is elongated upstream, forming the deeper part of the channel of a gorge, the upper part of which is produced by a caving in process as the plunge-pool undercuts the face of the fall. 1957G. E. Hutchinson Treat. Limnol. I. i. 111 The most impressive of such plunge-pool lakes are on that part of the former course of the Columbia River that now forms the Grand Coulee in the state of Washington. 1970Macdonald & Abbott Volcanoes in Sea xix. 367 (caption) Vertical valleys being cut by plunge-pool action of waterfalls. 1973Times 21 Nov. 18/8 There is a plunge pool with two massage jets. 1976‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Nanny Bird ix. 116 It was time for the plunge pool with the hydrojet massage.
▪ II. plunge, v.|plʌndʒ|
Forms: 4– plunge, 5 plownge, 5–6 plounge, 5–7 plonge, (6 plong, 6–7 plundge). β. 5 plonchyn, plounch, plunch(e.
[ME. plunge(n, plonge, plonche, a. OF. plunjer (Oxford Psalter, a 1140), plung(i)er, plong(i)er, ploncier, ploncher, pluncher, F. plonger, OPicard plonkier, Picard dial. plonquer to plunge, dive, (according to Diez):—late L. *plumbicāre to heave the lead, f. plumbum lead.]
1. a. trans. To put violently, thrust, or cast into (or † in) a liquid, a penetrable substance, or a cavity; to immerse, to submerge; in quot. c 1380, † to baptize by immersion (obs.).
c1380Sir Ferumb. 1085 And het him sone þat he wer diȝt, To blessy þe holy fanston,..Þe prelat dide al so he hiȝt, & plungede him sone þer-on. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 431/1 Other there wende that the shyppe shold haue broken and be plonged in the see. 1542Boorde Dyetary xxxviii. (1870) 300 To plounge the eyes in colde water in the morenyng. 1569J. Sandford tr. Agrippa's Van Artes 15 The riuer Mosa..plungeth him selfe, not in the ocean, but in the Rhene. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 64 Sometimes the one would lift the other quight Above the waters, and then downe againe Her plong. 1617Hieron Wks. (1619–20) II. 371 If thou be not mercifull vnto me, I shall eternally be plundged into the nethermost hell. 1711Addison Spect. No. 94 ⁋8 The holy Man bid him plunge his Head into the Water. 1800tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 24 Plunge a thermometer into the mixture, and its temperature will be found to be two degrees. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. xv. 163 The lance is plunged into the left side. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 77 You have only to plunge a lighted taper into it.
βc1440Staunton St. Patr. Purg. (1900) 71 Fendes takyng þilk bisshop..and plunchyng him in þat blak water. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 87 Of cursyd custum plounchyd in the myre.
†b. plunge up, to heave up, pump up. Obs.
1567in Turberville Epitaphs 78 b, Plunge vp a thousande sighes, for griefe your trickling teares distill.
2. fig. To thrust, force, or drive into (or † in) some thing, condition, state, or sphere of action.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. iii. pr. ii. 51 (Camb. MS.) And many folk..wenen þat it be ryght blysful thyng to plowngen hem in voluptuos delit. c1407Lydg. Reson & Sens. 6762 Y-plonged in ful gret distresse. 1567Satir. Poems Reform. iv. 51 Quhomlit in sorow and plungeit in cair. 1641Milton Prel. Episc. Wks. 1851 III. 75 The Councels themselves were fouly corrupted with ungodly Prelatisme, and..plung'd into worldly ambition. 1686tr. Chardin's Coronat. Solyman 87 The young Prince having plundg'd himself into the excesses of Wine and Women. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 181 Violent passions always plunge the soul into contrary extremes. 1838Thirlwall Greece xxii. III. 227 The commotion, which..agitated Syracuse, and threatened to plunge it into a civil war. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 373 We are plunged at once into philosophical discussions.
βc1440Lydg. Compleynt 376 in Temple of Glas, etc. (1891) 64 Now canst thow sette men aloft, And now hem plonchyn ful vnsoft, Doun from hegh felycyte.
†3. fig. To overwhelm, overpower, esp. with trouble or difficulty; to put to straits, embarrass.
c1485Digby Myst. (1882) iv. 462 This womans harte is plungid with payn. 1513Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 888 Plonget with sorowe, syghynge day and nyght. 1600Abp. Abbot Exp. Jonah 191 What is all this to plunge his abilitie who can do everie thing. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §21 [He] was so plunged and gravelled with three lines of Seneca, that all our Antidotes..could not expel the poyson of his errour. 1681Relig. Clerici 188, I am more and more plunged and puzled in this point.
4. Gardening. To sink (a pot containing a plant, less usually, a plant itself) in the ground.
1664Evelyn Sylva (1679) 13 Plunge it [the branch] half a foot under good mould. 1825Greenhouse Comp. I. 132 Chrysanthemum indicum might be introduced when in bloom, and plunged in the borders as if growing there. 1851Beck's Florist 87, I would recommend plunging the pots, but be sure you have a dry bottom. 1869P. Henderson Pract. Floricult. xxix. 200 (Funk) These pots should be planted, or, as we term it, ‘plunged’ to the rim, or level with the surface. 1935A. G. L. Hellyer Pract. Gardening xxix. 183 It is an excellent plan to plunge the pots to their rims in a bed of ashes to reduce the necessity for frequent watering. 1965Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 26 Sept. 15 You may read of pots being plunged. This refers to the burying of a pot up to its rim.
5. a. intr. To throw or hurl oneself into water or the like; to dive head-foremost; to fall or sink (involuntarily) into a deep place (as a pit or abyss); also, to penetrate impetuously into a crowd, a forest, or any thing or place in which one is submerged or lost to view.
1375Barbour Bruce ii. 355 For the best, and the worthiest..Plungyt in the stalwart stour, And rowtis ruyd about thaim dang. c1380Sir Ferumb. 5784 How þat þys water ys arayed, þat y schal plungy on. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 112 A yonge childe..that wente forto bathe hym, and happed to plonge and to fall in a depe pitte withinne the ryuer. 1470–85Malory Arthur vii. xx. 243 Many tymes his hors and he plonged ouer the hede in depe myres. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. i. ii. 105 Accoutred as I was, I plunged in, And bad him follow. 1697Dryden Virg. Past. viii. 84 From yon high Cliff I plunge into the Main. 1789W. Buchan Dom. Med. lv. (1790) 633 It is now fashionable for persons of all ranks to plunge into the sea, and drink the mineral waters. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge lix, He plunged into the thickest portion of the little wood. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. 58 Saw the stream plunge into a shaft.
βc1400tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 96 Þe sawle shall plunche into þe depnes of helle.
b. transf. To enter impetuously or abruptly into (a place). Also with upon. Also, to emerge or come out or out of (a place) impetuously or abruptly.
1834L. Ritchie Wand. Seine 110 We..plunged into the high road leading to Duclair. 1841–71T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 341 Others [tubes] without any vesicular enlargement, plunge at once into different textures, and supply the viscera and internal organs. 1885Manch. Exam. 22 Jan. 5/2 Under a well-organised fire from the works, the Arabs plunged forth upon the square. 1891Kipling Light that Failed (1000) 202 He stumbled across the landing and plunged into Torpenhow's room. 1891C. Graves Field of Tares iv. vi. 241 The Norwich Express, plunging out of Liverpool Street Station. 1892R. Buchanan Come live with Me xxiii. 256 Finally..he plunged out into the darkness and disappeared. 1896C. M. Sheldon His Brother's Keeper viii. 226 They plunged right out of a great hole.
c. transf. To descend abruptly and steeply; to dip suddenly (as a road or stratum). spec. in Geol., of a fold: to have an axis that slopes or dips downwards, whether at a large or a small angle; also said of the axis.
1854Murchison Siluria ii. 31 They are seen to fold over and plunge to the east-south-east. 1882B. Harte Flip i, The stage-road that plunged from the terrace..into the valley below. 1905Chamberlin & Salisbury Geol. I. viii. 488 If the axis of a fold is not horizontal, that is, if it ‘plunges’. 1932Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists XVI. 210 At this time all of the folds plunged consistently eastward at a low angle. 1942M. P. Billings Structural Geol. iii. 46 In the southwest corner, the anticline plunges 15 degrees to the southwest. 1965A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. (ed. 2) ix. 210 The axes of folds are not infrequently found to be tilted instead of horizontal; the folds are then said to pitch or plunge.
6. intr. To enter impetuously or determinedly into some state, condition, or affair; to involve oneself deeply.
a1694Tillotson (J.), He could find no other way to conceal his adultery, but to plunge into the guilt of a murther. 1714Addison Cato i. i, Bid me for honour plunge into a war Of thickest foes. 1771Burke Corr. (1844) I. 252 The character of their party is to be very ready to plunge into difficult business. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest i, It was only to plunge into new errors. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 5 We plunge abruptly into the subject of the dialogue.
7. transf.
a. intr. To fling or throw oneself violently forward, esp. with a diving action: said of a horse (opposed to rear v.1 15 b); of a ship: = pitch v.1 19 b; of the chest: to expand with falling of the diaphragm.
1530Palsgr. 661/2, I plunge, as a horse doth, je plonge. 1633Heywood & Rowley Fort. by Land & Sea iii. i. Wks. 1874 VI. 392 Our teems..plunge in pain. 1735Somerville Chase iii. 334 Wounded, he rears aloft, And plunging, from his Back the Rider hurls Precipitant. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. xvi. 137 He taught Sawney to rear and plunge, whenever his legs were touched by the broom. 1817Sporting Mag. L. 17 Dick kept plunging with his favourite right-handed hits. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy xxvi, The frigate..no longer jerked and plunged as before. 1860Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 115 The water came in every time the ship plunged. 1898Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 287 The chest may plunge, but there is no expansion of the thoracic cavity.
b. trans. With complement: To make oneself (weary, etc.) by plunging.
1607Markham Caval. ii. (1617) 95 They will, after they haue plunged themselues weary, fall downe.
c. Of a horse: To throw or pitch by plunging.
1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 66 At the farther side of the river [he] was plunged by his horse, at his landing, that he was taken up for dead.
†8. trans. To penetrate by plunging, diving, or digging; to plunge into or through. Obs. rare.
a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 1 Vaunt not, rich pearl, red coral, which do stir A fond desire in fools to plunge your ground. 1724Ramsay Health 313 He'll plunge the deep, And with expanded arms the billows sweep.
9. absol. Of artillery: To send shot downwards from a higher level. Cf. plunging fire in plunging ppl. a. c.
1815Scott Paul's Lett. (1839) 123 Our artillery on the ridge were brought to plunge into it.
10. a. intr. To spend money or bet recklessly; to speculate or gamble deeply; to run into debt. slang.
1876Besant & Rice Gold. Butterfly xxxviii, They plunged as regarded hansoms, paying whatever was asked with an airy prodigality. 1883M. E. Braddon Phantom Fortune xliv, She has been plunging rather deeply. 1886Fortn. Rev. Mar. 319 ‘Plunging’ was the order of the day, and lansquenet was the game at which most of this..was done.
b. trans. To bet or speculate (a sum of money).
1922Joyce Ulysses 320 Boylan plunged two quid on my tip Sceptre for himself and a lady friend.
11. trans. or absol. Railways. To release (signals or points, etc.) by depressing a plunger. Cf. plunger 2 g.
[1923J. F. Gairns Railways for All xviii. 179 Sykes' ‘Lock and Block’ instruments..are operated by pressing a knob or plunger, hence the term ‘plunging’ used to describe their working by the signalmen.] 1926C. J. Allen Iron Road xii. 180 Then the signalman in the next box cannot ‘plunge’ on his instrument until he has put his own starting signal lever back to danger in the lever frame behind the last preceding train. 1940Railway Signalling & Communications iii. 93 All facing points unprotected by track circuit must be provided with a locking bar in addition to the plunger, and the points must be plunged before the signal reading over them can be cleared.
Hence plunged ppl. a.
1581T. Howell Deuises (1879) 177 The plunged state, wherein I lyue and dwell. 1767Bevis in Phil. Trans. LVII. 378 Depending on the relation of the height α to the plunged part.
Add:[5.] d. fig. Of currency, prices, etc.: to drop sharply in value or amount.
[1901Wall St. Jrnl. 20 July 1/2 The market is not like a balloon plunging hither and thither in the wind.] 1946N.Y. Times 31 Oct. 35/6 The stock market.., after prices had plunged to new lows for the year, suddenly reversed the trend and rallied substantially. 1964N.Y. Times Index 1963 741/1 Stocks and bonds plunge to lowest level since May '62 break. 1977Time 15 Aug. 12/3 Inflation was raging (at 22{pcnt}), the lira was plunging, and the country was sustained at the brink only by massive loans from abroad. 1989Daily Tel. 10 Oct. 1/1 The pound plunged against the Deutschemark yesterday. |