a piece or mass of solid matter without regular shape or of no particular shape

a lump of coal.

a protuberance or swelling

a blow that raised a lump on his head.

an aggregation, collection, or mass; clump

All the articles were piled in a great lump.

Also called lump of sugar. a small block of granulated sugar, designed for sweetening hot coffee, tea, etc.

How many lumps do you take in your coffee?

majority; plurality; multitude

The great lump of voters are still undecided.

lumps, Informal . harsh criticism, punishment, or defeat

The new theory came in for some lumps when other scholars heard of it.

Informal . a heavy, clumsy, and usually stupid person.

in the form of a lump or lumps

lump sugar.

made up of a number of items taken together; not separated or considered separately

The debts were paid in one lump sum.

to unite into one aggregation, collection, or mass (often fol. by together )

We lumped the reds and blues together.

to deal with, handle, consider, etc., in the lump or mass

to lump unrelated matters indiscriminately.

to make into a lump or lumps

to lump dough before shaping it into loaves.

to raise into or cover with lumps

a plow lumping the moist earth.

to form or raise a lump or lumps

Stir the gravy so that it doesn't lump.

to move heavily and awkwardly

The big oaf lumped along beside me.

get or take one's lumps, to receive or endure hardship, punishment, criticism

etc.

Without its star pitcher, the baseball team will get its lumps today.

verb

change , fight , stand up

noun

agglomeration , ball , bit , block , bulge , bulk , bump , bunch , cake , chip , chunk , cluster , crumb , dab , gob , group , growth , handful , hunk , knot , knurl , lot , morsel , mountain , much , nugget , part , peck , piece , pile , portion , protrusion , protuberance , scrap , section , solid , spot , swelling , tumescence , tumor , wad , wedge , clod , clump , hunch , hump , knob , nub , gawk , hulk , lout , oaf , ox , comeuppance , desert , guerdon , recompense , reward , wage , aggregate.--v. mass , aggregation , amass , bolus , gobbet , lump , mass , node , nodule , slub

verb

abide , bear , brook , digest , endure , put up with , stand , stomach , suffer , swallow , take , bank , drift , hill , mound , pile , stack , clump , galumph , hulk , lumber , stump , accept , go , support , sustain , tolerate , withstand , aggregate , beat , blob , bulge , bulk , bunch , burl , cake , clot , dollop , glob , gob , gobbet , growth , heap , hunk , knob , knot , knurl , mass , node , nodule , nugget , protrusion , protuberance , swelling , tumor , wad , wedge , welt