*lunge*

n. [ Corrupted from plunger. ] A wooden blade with a cross handle, used for mi&unr_;ing the clay in potteries; a plunger. Tomlinson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Cf. Implunge. ] To plunge; to implunge. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To plunge. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Also spelt longe, fr. allonge. See Allonge, Long. ] A sudden thrust or pass, as with a sword. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Lunged p. pr. & vb. n. Lunging ] To make a lunge. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To cause to go round in a ring, as a horse, while holding his halter. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Same as Namaycush. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having lungs, or breathing organs similar to lungs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a person with pulmonary tuberculosis. [ informal ]
Syn. -- consumptive. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Cf. F. mélanger to mix, mélange a mixture. ] One of a mixed white and Indian people living in parts of Tennessee and the Carolinas. They are descendants of early intermixtures of white settlers with natives. In North Carolina the
Croatan Indians, regarded as descended from Raleigh's lost colony of Croatan, formerly classed with negroes, are now legally recognized as distinct. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ From the Amer. Indian name. ] (Zool.) A large American pike (Esox masquinongy formerly Esox nobilior) found in the Great Lakes, and other Northern lakes, and in the St. Lawrence River. It is valued as a food fish. [ Written also maskallonge, maskalonge, maskinonge, muskallonge, muskellonge, and muskelunjeh. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ G. See Nibelungs; Lied. ] A great medieval German epic of unknown authorship containing traditions which refer to the Burgundians at the time of Attila (called Etzel in the poem) and mythological elements pointing to heathen times. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bound and plunged him into a cell. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

We shall be plunged into perpetual errors. I. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To baptize by immersion. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To entangle; to embarrass; to overcome. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Plunged and graveled with three lines of Seneca. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Forced to plunge naked in the raging sea. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

To plunge into guilt of a murther. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To pitch or throw one's self headlong or violently forward, as a horse does. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some wild colt, which . . . flings and plunges. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Plunging fire (Gun.), firing directed upon an enemy from an elevated position. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, a desperate hazard or act; a state of being submerged or overwhelmed with difficulties. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

She was brought to that plunge, to conceal her husband's murder or accuse her son. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

And with thou not reach out a friendly arm,
To raise me from amidst this plunge of sorrows? Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The act of pitching or throwing one's self headlong or violently forward, like an unruly horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Heavy and reckless betting in horse racing; hazardous speculation. [ Cant ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]