Dump, n. [Cf. dial. Sw. dumpin melancholy, Dan. dump dull, low, D. dompig damp, G. dumpf damp, dull, gloomy, and E. damp, or rather perh. dump, v. t. Cf. Damp, or Dump, v. t.] 1. A dull, gloomy state of the mind; sadness; melancholy; low spirits; despondency; ill humor; — now used only in the plural.
March slowly on in solemn dump. Hudibras.
Doleful dumps the mind oppress. Shak.
I was musing in the midst of my dumps. Bunyan.
☞ The ludicrous associations now attached to this word did not originally belong to it. “Holland's translation of Livy represents the Romans as being `in the dumps' after the battle of Cannæ.” Trench.
2. Absence of mind; revery. Locke.
3. A melancholy strain or tune in music; any tune. “Tune a deploring dump.” “Play me some merry dump.” Shak.
4. An old kind of dance. Nares.