Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Plunger |
PlungerNoun1. Someone who risks losses for the possibility of considerable gains. 2. Someone who dives (into water). 3. Hand tool consisting of a stick with a rubber suction cup at one end; used to clean clogged drains. 4. Mechanical device that has a plunging or thrusting motion. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "plunger" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1927. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Electrical Engineering | A longitudinally movable obstacle which reflects essentially all of the incident energy. Source: European Union. (references) |
| A metal plate perpendicular to and movable along a waveguide, acting as a short circuit for high-frequency current. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Food & Agriculture | A wooden tool consisting of a flat base mounted on a long handle. Used for punching the cap during fermentation or for crushing grapes in somes countries. Source: European Union. (references) |
Literature | Plunger One who plunges, or spends money recklessly in bets, etc. The Marquis of Hastings was the first person so called by the turf. One night he played three games of draughts for 5,000 in an hour and a half. He paid both debts at once before he left the room. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Mechanical Engineering | A spring-controlled pin which temporarily locks a wheel or some other machine part. Source: European Union. (references) |
| A variant of a piston where the entire part that enters the cylinder is of a uniform cross section. It displaces fluid direct by submersion. Source: European Union. (references) | |
| A key arranged to slide in a slot of the driving shaft of a diving key type transmission and permitting the shaft to be rigidly connected to any gear wheel of the set. Source: European Union. (references) | |
| Reciprocating part usually similar to and performing the functions of a piston. Source: European Union. (references) | |
| A rod acting in the direct line of the application of force. Source: European Union. (references) | |
| Moveable piston used in a resonant cavity for tuning or for the introduction of attenuation(1). Source: European Union. (references) | |
Mining | A. In blasting, a rod designed for thrusting into a drill hole and ascertaining the position of a cartridge b. The piston of a force pump. (references) |
Public Administration | A plate movable along a waveguide, acting as a short-circuit for high-frequency currents. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: PlungerSynonyms: diver (n), piston (n), plumber's helper (n), speculator (n). (additional references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Plunger (1920) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Moored alongside USS Holland (AS-3), from which the photograph was taken, the submarines are (from left to right): Salmon (SS-182); Seal (SS-183); Pickerel (SS-177); Plunger (SS-179); Snapper (SS-185) and Permit (SS-178). Note the small motor boats, of the type carried by fleet submarines prior to World War II. One of the men standing on Salmon's deck is Yeoman Clayton Johnson, who in 1969 was a Commander serving at the Naval History Division. USS Enterprise (CV-6) is in the distance, tied up at Naval Air Station, North Island. Credit: NAVY. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Play | Caption |
 | Pinball rolling into the plunger lane of a pinball machine. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Plunger" is generally used as an adjective (comparative) -- approximately 58.82% of the time. "Plunger" is used about 51 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (comparative) | 58.82% | 30 | 63,341 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 37.25% | 19 | 80,337 |
| Noun (proper) | 3.92% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 51 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "plunger": choke plunger ♦ piston plunger ♦ plunger bucket ♦ plunger pole ♦ plunger pump ♦ plunger tip ♦ spring plunger ♦ switch hook plunger. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "plunger"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | pompë lavamanesh, plunzher, zhytës (dipper, diver, frogman, sinker, skin diver), kumarxhi (gambler, gamester). (various references) | |
Arabic | مكبس غطاس, منفذ الهواء, المقامر (gamester), المضارب, الغواص, الغطاس (grebe), الغائص. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | спекулант (jobber, money spinner, speculator), комарджия (gambler, gamester, punter), водолаз (diver), пуасон (die, drift, punch, swage), повдигач на клапан (tappet), плунжер (ram), пистон (piston, sucker), дълго бутало (ram). (various references) | |
Chinese | 柱塞. (various references) | |
Czech | potápìè (dipper, diver, skin diver). (various references) | |
Danish | pumpestempel (feed plunger, feeding plunger, pump plunger), prikkel (plug, plunger tip), plunger (plunger piston, pump ram), pegel (plug, plunger tip), trykstemplet, trykstempel (plunger piston, pump ram), stopstift (shot pin, spring plunger, stop pin), stoedstang, stoebestempel (plunger tip), stempel (adjustable short circuit, die-stamped marking, male plug, matrix, piston, plunger tip, stamp, stamper), skydenot (diving key, sliding key), skiveformet stempel, rigel (bolt, catch, cross beam, girder, horizontal girder, latch, lock, shot pin, spring plunger, stop pin, transom, transverse girder), druestempel (stamper), cylindrisk stempel. (various references) | |
Dutch | pompplunjer (feed plunger, feeding plunger, pump plunger), plunjerzuiger (plunger piston, pump ram), plunjer, pegel (plug, plunger tip), zuiger (piston), voorvormstempel, voorvormplunjer, taster (probe, stylus, tracer(USA)), tandstang (diving key, gear, gear-rack, rack, sliding key), stamper (pestle), snapveer (shot pin, spring plunger, stop pin), kortsluitzuiger (adjustable short circuit, piston, switch hook plunger), kegel (cone, pin), duiker (diver), doorn (thorn). (various references) | |
Finnish | mäntä (piston). (various references) | |
French | piston. (various references) | |
German | Tauchkolben (plunger piston, pump ram), Taucher (aquanaut, dipper, diver, grebe). (various references) | |
Greek | συμπαγές έμβολο, ολισθαίνουσα σφήνα (diving key, sliding key), εμβολέας, πείρος αναστολής (shot pin, spring plunger, stop pin), μαστός (bushing, collar, dog, mamma, nipple, sleeve, sliding dog, socket, teats), μαστός προφόρμας (plug, plunger tip), βουτών (splasher, steeper), βλήτρο (band, dowel, hoop, pin, sheet, shot pin, spring plunger, steel strip, steelband, stop pin, strap, strip, strip steel), δύτησ (diver), βύσμα αναστολής (shot pin, spring plunger, stop pin), κόπανος (jerk), έμβολο (piston, plug, ram, rammer), έμβολο αντλίας πετρελαίου (feed plunger, feeding plunger, pump plunger), έμβολο βύθισης (plunger piston, pump ram), έμβολο σε ρυθμιζόμενο βραχυκύκλωμα (adjustable short circuit, piston), έμβολο έγχυσης (plunger tip), ριψοκίνδυνοσ (adventurous, hazardous, reckless, sporting, venturesome), καταδυτικόν έμβολον, βυθιζόμενη σφήνα (diving key, sliding key). (various references) | |
Hebrew | איש צפר"ע (diver), טובלן, צולל (diver). (various references) | |
Hungarian | búvárdugattyú, búvár (dipper, diver, frogman, frogmen), vécépumpa (plumber's friend), szelepszár (stem), rúdhengersor-kezelő, mikrofondugattyú, lovas katona (cavalry, horse, horse-soldier, trooper), köpülőfa (churn-dasher, churn-staff), könnyelmű játékos, inerciás ütőszeg, hazardőr (leg, punter), hazárdjátékos, gyutacs leszálló része, behúzó vasmag. (various references) | |
Italian | pistone (piston, sucker). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | "サの斜" (Leaning Tower of Pisa, pidgin English, piste, pistol, piston, piston corer, pizza, pizza pie). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | "ストン (piston). (various references) | |
Korean | "런 . (various references) | |
Manx | thummeyder 2 (diver, immerser), thummeyder (Baptist, diver, immerser). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ungerplay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | pistão (forcer, piston). (various references) | |
Russian | кавалерист (cavalryman, horseman, horse-soldier, sowar, trooper), водолаз (diver), ныряльщик (diver), азартный игрок (gambler), плунжер (ram). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | sprava za otpušavanje cevi, klip (cob, piston). (various references) | |
Spanish | émbolo (piston). (various references) | |
Swedish | presstämpel, plunsch, plunger (plug, plunger tip), tryckstång (compression member, strut), styrkolv, spärr (bar, barrier, hedge, lock, spare, turnstile), rundslid (plunger piston, pump ram), kolvtopp (plunger tip), kolv (butt, flask, piston), dykare (diver, diving beetle), drivkrysskil (diving key, sliding key). (various references) | |
Turkish | tulumba pistonu (bucket, sucker), spekülatör (adventurer, bear, bull, operator, speculator, stag), kumarbaz (gambler, gamester, player, spieler), dalma pistonu, dalgıç (aqualunger, diver, frogman), büyük oyuncu. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | стрибун у воду, водолаз (diver, water dog). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | người nh o lặn. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "plunger": plungers. (additional references) | |
| |
"Plunger" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: blunger, Lunger, Pfleger, plager, plinger, plonge, plonger, plsnger, Plugaru, pluget, plundge, plung, punga, pungere, Pungor, splunge. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "plunger" (pronounced plu"njer) |
| 3 | -n j er | endanger, arranger, Avenger, challenger, changer, conjure, danger, deringer, Derringer, exchanger, ginger, Granger, harbinger, hinger, injure, manger, messenger, passenger, Ranger, scavenger, stranger. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-g-l-n-p-r-u" | |
-1 letter: gulper, lunger, plunge, pungle, repugn. | |
-2 letters: gluer, gruel, luger, lunge, prune, puler, purge, unpeg. | |
-3 letters: genu, glen, glue, grue, gulp, luge, lune, lung, lure, nurl, plug, pule, pung, pure, purl, rule, rune, rung, urge. | |
-4 letters: eng, erg, ern, gel, gen, gnu, gul, gun, leg, leu, lug, peg, pen, per, pug, pul, pun, pur, reg. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-g-l-n-p-r-u" | |
+1 letter: plungers, replunge. | |
+2 letters: preluding, replunged, replunges, repulsing. | |
+3 letters: empurpling, pleasuring, plundering, precluding, recoupling, replumbing, replunging, superlying. | |
+4 letters: kerplunking, pelargonium, presumingly, pulverising, pulverizing, repugnantly, resculpting, resupplying, sepulchring, spluttering, ungraspable. | |
+5 letters: blueprinting, multipronged, paralanguage, pelargoniums, preinaugural, repopulating, republishing, sepulchering, supercoiling, supercooling, underlapping, underplaying, unprivileged, upholstering. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Sounds 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
