sb. Also 5 sompe, 7 sumpe, 8–9 sumph, 9 sumpt. [a. (M)LG. sump (sumpt) or MDu. somp, sump, Flem. zompe (WFris. sompe), or ad. (in the mining sense) the related MHG., G. sumpf marsh, water-level or lodge, sump in metal-working (whence Sw., Da. sump); f. swump-, related by ablaut to swamp- (see SWAMP sb.).]
1. A marsh, swamp, morass; (now dial.) a dirty pool or puddle.
c. 1425. Cast. Persev., 427, in Macro Plays, 90. Myth I ryde be sompe & syke.
1825. Brockett, N. C. Gloss., Sump, Sumph, a bog, a swamp, a miry pool.
1851. Cumbld. Gloss., Sump, a puddle.
1905. J. H. McCarthy, Dryad, xxv. 261. Swift Spanish soldiers came running nimbly towards them, picking their way easily over the sump in which the Athenians wallowed an inextricable mass of men and horses.
2. A pit or well for collecting water or other fluid; spec. a cesspool; a pond or well from which sea-water is collected for salt-manufacture.
1680. Tynemouth Par. Reg., in Archaeol. Æliana, XIX. 211. He was drowned in Mr. Lawson’s sumpe.
1682. J. Collins, Salt & Fishery, 10. The Sea-water they commonly at Spring-Tide let into Ponds called Sumps, from whence ’tis pumpt into their Pans.
1748. Brownrigg, Art of Making Salt, 55. They … make a little pond in the rocks, or with stones on the sand, which they call their sump.
1862. Smiles, Engineers, III. 45. He had a wooden box or boot made, twelve feet high, which he placed in the sump or well, and into this he inserted the lower end of the pump.
1884. Contemp. Rev., June, 798. The experience of the fen system of working by conveyance into sumps warrant the conclusion, that [etc.].
1893. Newcastle Daily Jrnl., 11 July, 6/2. It was not true that there were three or four houses with ‘sumps’ in them, giving off offensive odours.
1907. Westm. Gaz., 9 Nov., 12/3. The oil is forced by a gear-driven pump from a sump in the crank-chamber.
b. Mining. A pit or well sunk at the bottom of an engine shaft to collect the water of the mine.
1653. Manlove, Cust. Lead-mines, 159. They may cause open’d, Drifts, and Sumps, to see If any one by other wronged be.
1700. Mackworth, Disc. Mine-Adv., 2nd Abstr., 13. We were not able to sink down our Sumps till the Weather grows Warmer.
1778. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 144. A whym Shaft to draw the Deads and Ore from the Sump of the Mine.
1866. Morning Star, 18 Dec., 6/2. The break-down of a portion of the winding machinery … has prevented the sumph being emptied of its water.
1895. Times, 16 Jan., 10/1. Men were engaged for hours in removing the obstructions which had been brought to the sump by the rush of water, such as pit-props, tubs, and an immense quantity of timber.
3. Metallurgy. A pit of stone or metal at a furnace to collect the metal at the first fusion.
1674. Ray, Coll. Words, 114. The mine when melted runs down into the Sump.
1884. C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Receipts, Ser. III. 424/2. The metal is tapped off into an iron sump.
4. Mining. Applied locally to various kinds of drifts or pits (see quots.); also, ‘the part of a judd of coal first brought down’ (Eng. & For. Mining Gloss., 1860).
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., s.v., The second is so proportioned to supply the first and third Sump, to supply the second, and so on.
1796. Statist. Acc. Scot., XVIII. 142. A shaft or sump, as the miners term it, was made to the depth of several fathoms, immediately below the bottom of the waste.
1828. Craven Gloss., Sump, a hole sunk below the levels or drifts of a mine at a proper distance to divide the ground, and communicate air to the different works or branches.
1846. Brockett, N. C. Words (ed. 3), Sumph … also means a secondary shaft in a mine.
1851. Greenwell, Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh., 54. Sump … in driving a stone drift, or in sinking a pit, that portion kept a yard or more in advance of the drift or pit, to enable the gunpowder to act to greater advantage upon the parts left.
1866. Durham Mining Lang., Sump, a pit sunk from one level in a mine to a lower level.
5. attrib., as sump-head; sump drift, a drift for the construction of a sump; sump-fuse, a waterproof fuse used for blasting under water (Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 1867); sump-hole, = 2, 2 b; sump-man, a pitman’s assistant, one who attends to the machinery in an engine-shaft; sump-plank (see quot.); sump-shaft, an engine-shaft.
1882. Rep. Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S., 147. This shaft … was sunk 33 feet below the 2,500-foot level. A *sump drift was run out 50 feet from the bottom.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., Spurfork, a small sort of Fork … sometimes used to hold Doorsteds in Drifts, or at *Sumpheads asunder.
1847. Halliwell, *Sump-hole, a cesspool. Yorksh.
1897. Westm. Gaz., 15 Nov., 2/1. Mr. Goschen … braved the sulphurous fumes … as far as the sump-hole. Ibid. (1903), 28 Nov., 6/2. Water pumped … from a sumpt-hole … adjacent to one of the most polluted branches of the Lea.
1839. De la Beche, Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc., xv. 605. *Sumpmen.
1866. Thornbury, Greatheart, III. 211. Then they helped me into the sumpman’s house.
1860. Eng. & For. Mining Gloss. (ed. 2), 80. *Sump-planks, strong balks of timler bolted together, forming a temporary bottom, or scaffolding, for the shaft.
1778. W. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 171. *Sumph shaft western bottoms.
Hence Sump v. intr., to dig a sump or (small or temporary) shaft; Sumping vbl. sb., also attrib. (see quots. 1860).
1700. Mackworth, Disc. Mine-Adv., 2nd Abstr., 12. We are Sumping and driving in the new Work in good firm … Oar.
1789. J. Williams, Min. Kingd., I. 277. Many [miners] … were sumping, driving, and roofing in other parts of the work.
1860. Eng. & For. Mining Gloss. (ed. 2), 65. Sumping-shot, a charge of powder for bringing down the sump, or for blowing the stone up in a sinking pit. Ibid., 80. Sumping, a small square shaft, generally made in the air-headings, when crossing faults, &c., or made to prove the thickness of coal, &c.
1886. J. Barrowman, Sc. Mining Terms, 65. Sumping, cutting down into the floor, or, in sinking, cutting down at the lowest part of the shaft.
