plungern.
/ˈplʌn(d)ʒə/, U.S. /ˈpləndʒər/ 1.
a. A person who or thing which plunges or dives; a diver.Formerly: spec. (in the context of religious controversy) †a person who baptizes by total immersion.
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the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > [noun] > diving into water > one who or that which
ducker1483
diver1511
water?1570
plunger1611
header1848
belly flopper1895
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Plongeur, a plunger, ducker, diuer.
1650 T. Bakewell Dr. Chamberlain Visited 16 I think the subtillest Plunger amongst you cannot finde time, out of that word immediately, for Paul to goe out to bee plunged in some Pond or River.
1726 Manner of baptizing with Water 46 They monopolize to themselves the name of Baptists; whereas indeed, they have nothing to do with it. Plungers they are, but Baptists they are not.
1736 N. Bailey et al. Dictionarium Britannicum (ed. 2) Plunger, a diver.
1848 A. H. Clough Bothie of Toper-na-Fuosich iii. 46 Here, the pride of the plunger, you stride the fall and clear it; Here,..into pure green depth drop down from lofty ledges.
1893 Tablet 18 Feb. 272 Would the plunger hold his own in the vortex of troubled waters?
1917 Fort Wayne (Indiana) News 28 July 8/6 Fred Jorn, the champion plunger, has already set a world's standard for 75 feet.
1988 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 2 Jan. ii. 3/1 Instead of wearing scuba gear and wet suits, the divers don costumes. Past plungers have hit the waves dressed in everything from tuxedos to beer cans.
b. A diving bird; (now) spec. the Junin flightless grebe, Podiceps taczanowskii, of Peru.In quot. 1655: spec. a skua.
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the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > [noun] > genus Stercorarius (skuas or jaegers) > stercorarius skua (skua)
plunger1655
dung bird1677
skua1678
dung hunter1694
skua-gull1768
dirty allan1771
bonxiea1777
dung teaser1841
weese allan1849
sea-hawk1852
turd-bird1864
shoemaker1867
dirt-bird1885
1655 T. Moffett & C. Bennet Healths Improvem. xii. 108 White Gulls, Gray-Gulls, and Black Gulls (commonly termed by the name of Plungers and Water-Crows).
1786 tr. C. E. Savary Lett. on Egypt II. 399 The waters of Lake Menzalé are covered with wild geese, ducks, teals, plungers, and ibises.
1840 N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 384 Mr. Macgillivray divides the birds of Europe into four groups, determined by their mode of life... The fourth section consists of the Natatoriæ or Swimming birds, divided into the cribatores or sifters, the urinatores or divers, the mersatores or plungers, and the spoliatores or robbers.
1939 E. D. Laborde tr. E. de Martonne Shorter Physical Geogr. (rev. ed.) xx. 311 The characteristic feature is the extreme abundance of birds, chief among which are sea-birds, whether fishers, swimmers, or plungers, such as the eider duck, the gull, the barnacle goose, etc.
1996 Inter Press Service Newswire (Nexis) 27 Sept. The ‘plunger’, a rare aquatic bird that cannot fly, faces extinction as its home in the high mountain lakes of Peru no longer have [sic] the fish for it to eat.
c. North American. A type of small sailing boat (see quot. 1948). Now historical.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > fishing vessel > [noun] > vessels which store, freeze, or transport fish
well-boat1614
fish-pool1718
sack ship1732
well smack?1758
carrier1825
sale-boat1840
ice boat1846
plunger1860
runner1881
pound-boat1884
run boat1884
fish-carrier1886
smacka1891
shacker1902
Klondiker1926
factory trawler1928
1860 North-West (Port Townsend, Washington) 12 July 3/1 The following craft were entered for the stakes:—Sloop H. L. Tibbals, Port Townsend;..and the plunger Star of the South.
1892 Outing Mar. 467/1 Yachting on the Pacific coast dates from about 1869, when the first club..was organised, though a few small plungers and sloops had long been owned on the bay.
1948 R. de Kerchove Internat. Maritime Dict. 541/2 Plunger, name given to various sailing craft employed in the Pacific coast oyster fisheries for transportation... Also called oyster sloop. Most of them are built with flush deck and a large central cockpit divided by a centerboard. The larger type is keel built... All are cat-rigged.
1969 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 23 Mar. 4/2 The next day [sc. 24 Dec. 1860] a plunger brought a quantity of salvaged goods to Victoria, mostly in the form of cases of Old Tom gin.
2003 Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) (Nexis) 4 Apr. 4 The graceful—and extinct—oyster boats known as plungers that once worked the waters near Oysterville, Wash[ington].
2. A thing which plunges or may be plunged; esp. an instrument or part of a mechanism which works or is worked with a plunging or thrusting motion.
a. A piston, as that of a pump, a syringe, etc. Also: any of various devices or mechanisms having a similar motion, used esp. to push something into position (and to lift it out again), as in closing or opening a valve, making or breaking an electrical contact, etc.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > piston > [noun]
piston1704
plunger1722
working box1773
1722 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 32 6 dddd represents a Lignum Vitæ Plug or Piston (which Mr. Haskins call'd a Plunger).
1761 J. Ferguson Lect. iv. 17 There will always be one or other of the plungers going downward, which will force the water out in a regular stream.
1831 D. Lardner Pneumatics vi. 312 A heavy beam, or plunger, suspended from a chain, and capable of descending by its own weight in water.
1878 F. S. Williams Midland Railway (ed. 4) 424 Hydraulic power is obtained by a 40-horse engine, pumping the water into two upright cylinders, fitted with solid plungers.
1937 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 13 May 12/4 He leaned over the detonating box, and pressed the plunger down.
1949 ‘G. Orwell’ Nineteen Eighty-four iii. 259 Winston saw the man in the white coat break an ampoule and draw back the plunger of a syringe.
1952 I. Frazee et al. Automotive Electr. Syst. vii. 369 When current in excess of the rated value flows..a plunger..opens the contact points.
1992 R. J. Waller Bridges of Madison County iv. 71 He pushed the plunger of the shutter release and waited for a second to pass.
b. The dasher (dasher n. 2) of a churn.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > churning butter > churning-staff
churn-staff?a1500
churning-staff1768
dash1796
plunger1838
churning-stick1840
churn-dasher1845
dasher1847
churn-dash1860
1838 W. L. Rham Outl. Flemish Husbandry xiii. 62 Sometimes..a dog walks in a wheel, which turns the machinery by which the plunger is moved up and down [in churning].
1991 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 8 May 32 No one seems to know what the deep pot with a plunger is until Collins explains that it is a churn.
c. The firing pin in some breech-loading firearms; (also) a bolt sliding in a groove on the breech for securing the barrel in firing position.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > parts and fittings of firearms > [noun] > breech > other parts of breech
base1626
bridge pin1686
breech-pin1727
finger-piece1767
tang1805
hut1848
breech-lever1862
breech-screw1862
plunger1866
shoe1866
breech-block1881
breech-plug1881
console1882
crossbar1884
obturator1891
tray1909
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > parts and fittings of firearms > [noun] > lock > firing-pin
firing pin1860
plunger1866
1866 Times 26 May 9/7 A plunger or piston transmits the blow of the hammer through the stopper to the cap of the cartridge.
1870 Daily News 31 Aug. 2 The cartridges fall into slots in the barrels, and are gradually pushed into the firing position by 10 plungers or pistons.
1958 F. Downey Guns at Gettysburg App. A. 181 Fuses... Hotchkiss: percussion mixture, set off by plunger held by soft metal pin.
2004 Guns Mag. (Nexis) 1 Apr. 28 By 10,000 rounds, we were seeing burrs on the plunger that compromised function.
d. Railways. Any of various devices used to operate signalling mechanisms and points; esp. (a) a knob, lever, etc., which operates an electric relay in order to activate a signal locking mechanism or to transmit a message by telegraph to another apparatus; (b) a retractable rod serving to lock a points mechanism.
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society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > device for operating signals or points
plunger1877
1877 W. E. Langdon Applic. Electr. to Railway Working iv. 52 Immediately below the dial were two keys, or plungers, by which the signals were worked, one being appropriated to the block, or ‘train on line’ signal, the other to the ‘line clear’ signal.
1881 Daily News 7 Sept. 2/5 Uxbridge..signalled a couple of ‘beats’ to the West Drayton box, when the officer there in charge replied with four beats, pressed the ‘plunger’ and took off the lock at Uxbridge signals.
1910 C. B. Byles First Princ. Railway Signalling 89 A plunger, worked by a rod from the signal box, is arranged so as to enter one of the holes when the points are firmly home against the stock rail in either position.
1926 C. J. Allen Iron Road xii. 180 Only the action of ‘accepting’ the train by the box next in advance—that is, of giving ‘Line Clear’ by means of the special plunger on the signalling instrument—will free the lock on the lever, and allow it to be pulled over.
1963 G. M. Kichenside & A. R. Williams Brit. Railway Signalling v. 44 If Mottingham can accept the train the signalman there acknowledges the ‘Is line clear?’ code and presses the plunger on his home signal instrument. This..unlocks Lee's starting signal and places the block indicator at Lee in the raised position.
1995 M. A. Vanns Signalling in Age of Steam v. 55/2 For every facing point lever, there was an adjacent facing point lock lever, which operated a bolt (sometimes called a ‘plunger’) locking the point blades in whichever position the signalman had set them, and preventing the point lever from being moved.
e. Plumbing. A device consisting of a flexible rubber (originally leather) cup on a long handle, used to clear blocked pipes, etc., by means of suction. Cf. force cup n. at force n.1 Compounds.
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the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > clearing of refuse matter > [noun] > clearing drain or sewer > device for
grate-iron1750
plunger1885
force cup1907
1885 P. J. Davies Standard Pract. Plumbing I. 26/2 (heading) The plunger is a piece of stout leather..screwed on the end of a broom-stick, and is used for forcing water-closets when stopped.
1917 A. F. Collins Home Handy Bk. v. 78 (heading) Clean-out Plunger... It is formed of a hardwood handle..to which a rubber cup or plunger is attached.
1965 Newsweek 4 Oct. 80/1 Painters' wages have climbed 60 per cent..and plumbers'..to $1.25 an hour. It has all been enough to drive the homeowner to take up the paintbrush and the plunger himself.
1991 Which? Oct. 562/2 Place the suction cup of the plunger over the plug hole and pump vigorously.
2003 Renovating Bathroom 39 Using a plunger on a toilet to clear a blockage in the drain pipe can rupture a wax seal.
f. The iron core of an induction coil or solenoid, the movement of which into and out of the coil regulates the strength of the induced electric current.
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1890 Science 31 Oct. 199/1 The plunger and coil is specially considered as constituting a species of electro-magnet adapted for a long range of motion.
1903 Science 30 Jan. 172/1 The plunger will, therefore, rise and fall in the coil as the varying frequency requires a greater or less self induction for resonance.
1936 E. A. Atkins & A. G. Walker Electr. Arc & Oxy-acetylene Welding (ed. 3) ii The wiring on the solenoid is a simple spiral made of insulated wire, within which an iron bar plunger A is free to move in and out.
1963 F. D. Jones & P. B. Schubert Engin. Encycl. (ed. 3) 1168 One type of solenoid brake adapted for mill, crane and hoist motors and similar classes of service, is so arranged that the brake mechanism is held in the off or release position by a coil and plunger.
g. = plunger brake n. at Compounds 2. rare.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicle propelled by feet > [noun] > cycle > parts and equipment of cycles > brakes
grip-brake1885
plunger brake1892
plunger1907
side pull1972
1907 in N.E.D. Plunger.
h. Jazz (chiefly colloquial). A device used as a mute for a trumpet or trombone (so called from its resemblance to a plunger (sense 2e) in appearance). See also Compounds 3.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > wind instrument > brass instruments > [noun] > mute for
sordine1591
sourdet1611
sourdine?1779
mute1841
wah-wah mute1925
straight mute1926
plunger1934
plunger mute1935
cup mute1955
harmon mute1955
1934 Etude Music Mag. Aug. 455/3 In a trumpet part before us, we see..directions over sections of the arrangements..‘muted in hat’,..‘cup mute’, ‘solo in plunger’ [etc.].
1946 M. Mezzrow & B. Wolfe Really Blues 340 The trumpet got different tonal effects by using plungers and other home-made devices.
1992 Windplayer Sept. 17/2 He also has a very soft plunger and a Humes & Berg pixie mute, but says that he hasn't been called to use them in years.
3. Military slang. A cavalryman. Now historical and archaic.
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society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > soldier by branch of army > [noun] > mounted soldier
horsemanc1275
chevalier1377
roiter1579
prancer1593
cavalier1596
trooper1640
cavalry soldier1852
plunger1854
cavalry man1860
1854 W. M. Thackeray J. Leech's Pictures 82 He used rather to laugh at guardsmen, ‘plungers’, and other military men.
1857 C. Kingsley Two Years Ago II. vi. 207 It's an insult to the whole Guards, after refusing two of us, to marry an attorney, and after all to bolt with a plunger.
1895 F. Remington Pony Tracks 123 The colonel blew a whistle..and in rode Captain Bomus's troop of the First Plungers.
1957 A. Powell At Lady Molly's i. 1 He was..one of the last to my knowledge to speak of the Household Cavalry as ‘the Plungers’.
1973 G. M. Fraser Flashman at Charge 41 The young plungers and green striplings roister it up, and their fiancées let 'em pleasure them red in the face out of pity, because the poor brave boy is off to the cannon's mouth.
4. colloquial. A person who bets, gambles, or speculates, esp. rashly or recklessly.
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society > trade and finance > management of money > expenditure > waste of money or extravagance > [noun] > spendthrift > in gambling or speculation
plunger1868
high roller1873
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > [noun] > player of games of chance > types of
card gospeller1550
carrow1577
eagle1608
piker1859
plunger1868
tinhorn gambler1885
pool shark1886
tinhorn1887
mug punter1922
1868 Sydney Punch 19 Sept. 135/2 Hurrah for the Randwick Races..Where never a ‘crack’ was nobbled, Nor a ‘plunger’ showed his face.
1877 W. Besant & J. Rice This Son of Vulcan (new ed.) i. i Plungers in baccarat, badminton, loo, and opera-dancers.
1892 A. Jessopp Stud. Recluse (1893) vi. 192 He took to the turf,..was a regular plunger, and got deeply into debt.
1911 H. G. Wells New Machiavelli iii. i. 269 You're just the old plunger you used to be, Britten... You're going too far with all your might for the sake of the damns.
1951 E. Rickman Come Racing with Me xvi. 154 A large, freely betting crowd, including numerous ‘plungers’, professional backers, and stable commissioners.
2000 Wired Apr. 233/2 The legion of small-time plungers who are forever lured back to the market by the dream of a fast ride to the penthouse from the ground floor.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > pottery manufacturing equipment > [noun] > for beating or mixing clay
blungerc1830
plunger1875
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 1778/2 The clays are..prepared by mixing them in a plunger containing a large wheel, by which they are, with the addition of water, converted into a mass of the consistency of cream.
6. More fully plunger pot. A pot in which coffee is made and served, in which the grounds are separated out by being pressed to the bottom by a circular filter with a long handle. Also called cafetière (esp. in the United Kingdom), French press.
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the world > food and drink > drink > preparation of drinks > [noun] > preparation of coffee > utensils
coffee-pot1705
coffee maker1754
biggin1789
coffee-biggin1803
percolator1830
cafetière1846
coffee machine1894
drip coffee-pot1897
Silex1914
perc1934
filtre1940
French press1956
drip coffee-maker1964
plunger1970
pourover1973
Napoletana1983
1962 Times 2 Apr. 13/3 (caption) For Good Coffee Making... The latest Melior plunger design of heat-resisting glass.]
1970 Mountain Democrat (Placerville, Calif.) 21 May b2/1 I put some coffee into the reliable glass plunger pot where a slight manual effort avoids confrontation with those unpredictable, temper arousing devils, percolator thermostats.
1980 N.Y. Times 13 Feb. c2/4 I have been satisfied by a wonderful little coffee maker... It is the French-made Melior pot, generically described as a European plunger.
1998 T. Lust Pass Polenta 214 Commonplace now in restaurants and kitchen shops are thermal carafes and gold-plated drip filters, plunger-pots and frothing wands.
2004 M. McInerney Alphabet Sisters (2005) 130 The sisters pulled their chairs around a table in the center of the room, the scripts and a plunger of coffee in front of them.
Compounds
C1. General attributive and appositive.
plunger button n.
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1888 Times 11 Feb. 17/3 A current of air..passes through the ducts in the machine, then through the plunger button, and distends the glass.
2001 Plastics News (Nexis) 25 June 9 A typical, manual pipette has an axial-type configuration with a nozzle and plunger button.
plunger case n.
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1858 Sci. Amer. 21 Aug. 394/3 The movement of case, B, as shown, the plunger case, D, attached to case, C, and the seed distributing device.
1883 W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining 191 Plunger case, the barrel or cylinder in which a solid piston or plunger works in a forcing sett..of pumps.
plunger rod n.
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1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 187 There is also a rack and toothed sector, with a balance weight connected to the inclined plane at the top of the plunger-rods.
1928 Bot. Gaz. 86 466 In some pumps it will be necessary to put a washer on the plunger rod, just above the leather piston.
2002 Plastics News (Nexis) 11 Feb. 4 Materials include polycarbonate for the clear connector, polypropylene for the plunger rod and pharmaceutical-grade glass for the syringe.
C2.
plunger brake n. a brake in a bicycle or other vehicle in which a piston operated by a lever on the handlebar pushes the brake block on to the tyre.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicle propelled by feet > [noun] > cycle > parts and equipment of cycles > brakes
grip-brake1885
plunger brake1892
plunger1907
side pull1972
1892 Catal. Safety Bicycles (G. R. Bidwell Cycle Co.) 13 The Tourist... Specifications... Plunger brake, 3/4-inch tubular, tapering handle bars.
1902 Times 21 Nov. 14/2 The rim brake has entirely taken the place of the old plunger brake.
1985 Washington Post (Nexis) 12 July (Weekend section) 52 [He] works the bottom of the hill on race day, catching finishers if their rubber-tipped plunger brakes fail.
plunger bucket n. (a) a valveless bucket in a plunger pump; (b) = plunger piston n. (b).
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1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 1751/2 Plunger-bucket, one without a valve.
1890 Cent. Dict. Plunger-bucket, same as plunger-piston.
1893 Marion (Ohio) Daily Star 22 Mar. I kin make a little plunger bucket outer de skin.
1911 C. J. Lynde Home Waterwks. vii. 93 It prevents jars on the plunger bucket and rod.
plunger lift n. (a) = plunger bucket n. (a); (b) = plunger piston n. (b).
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1856 Sci. Amer. 9 Feb. 171/1 The Plunger Lift or ‘Water Works’ engine, which is the same as the Cornish engine..except that a plunger pump takes the place of pump rods.
1890 Cent. Dict. Plunger-lift, 1. In a pump, a bucket having no valve... 2. Same as plunger-piston.
2003 World Oil (Nexis) 1 Aug. 93 In a 10-well program in West Texas (replacing standard plunger lift in eight wells and two flowing wells), production increased.
plunger mute n. = sense 2h.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > wind instrument > brass instruments > [noun] > mute for
sordine1591
sourdet1611
sourdine?1779
mute1841
wah-wah mute1925
straight mute1926
plunger1934
plunger mute1935
cup mute1955
harmon mute1955
1935 Hot News July 18/3 Tricky..ought to be placed on a pedestal of his own as the one superb player on a plunger mute.
1946 D. Dexter Jazz Cavalcade vii. 106 Williams not only adopted Miley's famous plunger-mute solo style, he improved upon it.
2001 N.Y. Mag. 15 Jan. 83 (caption) A bop superstar in his own right, particularly adept at getting those low, funky tones out of his horn with a plunger mute.
plunger-muted adj. played with a plunger mute.
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1961 John o' London's 6 July 55/1 Booty Wood's melancholy plunger-muted trombone.
2004 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 24 Jan. 27 The horns playing old-fashioned, gut-bucket, plunger-muted riffs as the rest of the band put down slow and raunchy backbeats.
plunger piston n. (a) a solid cylindrical piston used in a plunger pump; (b) a solid piston used in a pressure gauge, etc., that is forced along its shaft by the pressure of the fluid behind it.
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1830 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 120 123 The most convenient method of forming this estimate is by multiplying together, the diameter in inches squared..of the plunger piston, the height of the lifts in fathoms.
1890 Cent. Dict. Plunger-piston, the solid piston of a pressure-gage, steam-indicator, or some similar instrument.
1944 Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press 22 Nov. 18/2 A bottle to be moved up and down like a plunger piston.
1984 Hydraulics & Pneumatics (Nexis) Mar. 80 Opposing the valve poppet is a plunger and plunger piston, biased by a light spring.
plunger pole n. a hollow cylindrical piston used in a pump.
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1840 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 3 41/1 Motion is given to the piston, bucket, or plunger-pole of the pump.
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 1752/1 (caption) G is a portion of a plunger-pole, showing the coupling of sections.
2002 Designfax (Nexis) 1 July 26 In an AC valve, anything that will prevent proper mating of the plunger pole faces..can cause noisy operation.
plunger pump n. a pump that incorporates a plunger or plungers.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > pump > [noun] > pump for raising water
pump1420
water pump1422
plump1480
water crane1658
force-pump1659
forcer1731
plunger pump1807
well pump1840
hydropult1866
1807 T. Young Course Lect. Nat. Philos. II. 249/2 Merryman's plunger pump.
1882 Rep. Precious Metals (U.S. Bureau of Mint) 147 Stationary double plunger pumps.
1986 C. Culpin Farm Machinery (ed. 11) x. 167/1 A modern electrically operated plunger pump has the well-head gear immediately above the rising main.
1996 Professional Engin. 10 July 42/3 The reverse osmosis machine, called Nessie, extracts salt from seawater, which is pumped into the unit at 60 bar by a simple plunger pump.
plunger valve n. a valve that opens and closes by a plunging action.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > control(s) > [noun] > valve > others
washer1596
turncock1702
air cock1709
Jack-in-the-box1728
runner1754
stop-valve1829
three-way cock1838
ball valve1839
relief valve1846
poppet valve1851
plunger valve1854
pot-lid1856
reflux valve1857
screw-down1864
mica valve1880
tide flap1884
tube-valve1884
swing-tap1892
relay valve1894
Schrader1895
pilot valve1900
mixer valve1904
spool valve1908
spill valve1922
safety valving1930
three-way1939
1854 Sci. Amer. 25 Nov. 81/3 A forcing pump with the plunger valve open only.
1931 Engineering 2 Oct. 5 (advt.) Being a combination of a plunger valve with a mushroom valve, they possess a greater efficiency than is possible with either of these types alone.
2000 Countryside & Small Stock Jrnl. (Nexis) 1 Mar. 67 If the handle works easily, but brings little water, there is sand or gravel under the plunger valve.
C3. Jazz (chiefly colloquial). attributive with reference to the use of a plunger mute (cf. sense 2h).
ΚΠ
1939 Down Beat 1 Dec. 14/1 Tricky Sam (real name Joseph) Nanton, whose plunger work on his sliphorn has never been and never will be equalled in jazz.
1949 L. Feather Inside Be-bop iii. 93 Took a couple of plunger solos on Decca.
1958 S. Dance in P. Gammond Decca Bk. Jazz xxiii. 293 Cootie..had always previously played open horn, but since Duke had engaged him to fill Miley's chair, he felt bound to experiment with the plunger style.
1966 Crescendo Jan. 6/1 A slow opening with Tricky Sam style plunger trombone (sounding here very much like a human voice).
2000 Boston Globe (Nexis) 29 Dec. d17 Al Grey, giant of the plunger trombone.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1611