galumph

verb

ga·​lumph gə-ˈləm(p)f 

galumphed; galumphing; galumphs

intransitive verb

: to move with a clumsy heavy tread

Did you know?

Bump, thump, thud. There's no doubt about it—when someone or something galumphs onto the scene, ears take notice. Galumph first lumbered onto the English scene in 1872 when Lewis Carroll used the word to describe the actions of the vanquisher of the Jabberwock in Through the Looking Glass: "He left it dead, and with its head / He went galumphing back." Carroll likely constructed the word by splicing gallop and triumphant (galumph did in its earliest uses convey a sense of exultant bounding). Other 19th-century writers must have liked the sound of galumph, because they began plying it in their own prose, and it has been clumping around our language ever since.

Synonyms

• barge
• clump
• flog [British]
• flounder
• lumber
• lump
• plod
• pound
• scuff
• scuffle
• shamble
• shuffle
• slog
• slough
• stamp
• stomp
• stumble
• stump
• tramp
• tromp
• trudge

Examples of galumph in a Sentence

I could hear him galumphing around in the attic.

the Great Dane galumphed across the floor to greet us

Recent Examples on the Web

Another way in which people’s carbon footprints become especially galumphing is through air travel, notably in first class. —The Economist, 28 Dec. 2019

There used to be campus dogs galumphing around the quad, fat on a diet of student pizza and potato chips. —Beth Thames , al, 30 Oct. 2019

There are also stretches of galumphing humor that go on too long. —Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2018

North Carolina’s Luke Maye launched it in desperation and off-balance, with all of the grace of a grandpa galumphing through a three-legged race. —Tim Sullivan, The Courier-Journal, 18 Feb. 2018

His margin may well have been provided by the FBI and U.S. intelligence establishment’s galumphing intervention in the Hillary Clinton email matter. —Holman W. Jenkins, WSJ, 1 Sep. 2017

The problem for Besson's movie, besides the problems with the movie itself, is its late arrival, galumphing into theaters so many years after so many recyclers and copycats. —Michael Phillips, chicagotribune.com, 20 July 2017

Word History

Etymology

perhaps blend of gallop entry 1 and triumphant

Note: Coined by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lewis dodgson) in the poem "Jabberwocky" (1872), apparently in the sense "to march exultingly."

First Known Use

1871, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

galumph

verb

ga·​lumph gə-ˈləm(p)f 

: to move in a loud and clumsy way