rump

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rumpe,^[2][3][4] probably borrowed from early Scandinavian;^[5][6][7] compare Icelandic rumpur (“buttocks”), Norwegian rumpe (“tail, buttocks”), Danish rumpe and Swedish rumpa, all meaning tail or buttocks.^[5][8][9][3] These are cognate with Middle Dutch romp (“trunk, torso”), Dutch romp, Middle Low German rump, Middle High German rumph and German Rumpf (“trunk of the body”),^{[5][8][3][10]} which Wiktionary traces to Proto-Germanic *rumpō.^[11] The further origin is uncertain.^[5] The OED rejects a suggestion that the original sense was a wickerwork basket, a sense found in the Middle Dutch and German words, since it is neither their oldest nor their main one,^[5] and Hoad thinks the original sense may have been a tree stump.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The part of an animal's body to which the tail is attached, the hindquarters: about 1410, in Edward, Duke of York's Master of Game.^[5][8] Etymonline dates it to the mid-15th century.^[9]

Semantic evolution

From 1469 the word named the hindquarters of an animal as a cut of meat,^[5][9] and by about 1475 it was also used of a person's buttocks.^[5] Its use for a small or contemptible remnant, from the notion of a tail end, began in 1649 with the members of the Long Parliament who remained after Pride's Purge of 1648, called the Rump.^[5][9][8] When the Rump fell in 1660, rumps of meat were roasted on bonfires;^[5] Pepys noted that boys were crying "Kiss my Parliament".^[5][13] From 1708 rump meant any remainder.^[5] As an adjective, small and inferior, it is recorded from 1605, in Shakespeare's Macbeth.^[8][9] In the 18th century it was also the name of a bustle worn under a skirt (1710).^[5] The verb meant to turn one's back on someone as a snub from 1737, and in Scotland from 1815 to strip someone of all their money.^[5][4][14] In Scots and northern English dialect the phrase rump and stump meant completely, and in Westmorland and Yorkshire rump was a name for the foliage of the oak at the end of May.^[15][5]

Timeline

• c. 1410 – the hindquarters of an animal, where the tail is attached.^[5][8]
• 1469 – this part of an animal as meat.^[5]
• c. 1475 – a person's buttocks.^[5]
• 1605 – adjective, small and inferior.^[8]
• 1649 – a contemptible remnant of a body of people, especially of a parliament.^[5][9][8]
• 1653 – the Rump, the remnant of the Long Parliament.^[5]
• 1708 – the remainder of anything.^[5]
• 1710 – a bustle worn under a skirt.^[5]
• 1737 – verb, to turn one's back on someone.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The rear part of an animal's body, where the tail is attached; the hindquarters.^[16][4][5]
2. The lower back of a bird, next to the tail.^[16][4]
3. A person's buttocks.^[16][4][5]
4. A cut of beef from between the loin and the round; rump steak.^[16][4]
5. A small or inferior remnant, especially of a party or parliament: the rump of the old committee.^[16][4][5]

Verb

1. (rare) To turn one's back on someone, especially as a snub.^[4][5]
2. To remove the hide from the hind leg of a slaughtered animal.^[4]

Word family

• rumpless
• Rump Parliament

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
12. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins