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 ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, plunges; a diver. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A long solid cylinder, used, instead of a piston or bucket, as a forcer in pumps. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. One who bets heavily and recklessly on a race; a reckless speculator. [ Cant ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Pottery) A boiler in which clay is beaten by a wheel to a creamy consistence. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Gun.) The firing pin of a breechloader. [ 1913 Webster ]

Plunger bucket, a piston, without a valve, in a pump. --
Plunger pole, the pump rod of a pumping engine. --
Plunger pump, a pump, as for water, having a plunger, instead of a piston, to act upon the water. It may be single-acting or double-acting [ 1913 Webster ]