local. Also 6 tumpe, 7 toompe, tomp. [Not found before end of 16th c.; chiefly a western and w. midl. word; see Eng. Dial. Dict.; origin obscure.
Also in Welsh twmp (cf. Buttington Tump in Montgomeryshire); but this may be from English. Welsh has also Twmpath (in Mabinogion twympath), ‘a clump or tuft of rough grass, a barrow or tumulus,’ etc., with which cf. tumpet in Eng. Dial. Dict.]
1. A hillock, mound; a mole-hill, or ant-hill; a barrow, tumulus.
1589. Nashe, Martins Months M., 53. They brought him vnawares to a dunghill, taking it for a tumpe, since a Tombe might not be had.
1603. Owen, Pembrokeshire (1892), 84, note. No traces remained … but highe and rounde toompes of earth. Ibid., 283. Tomps of erth.
1664. Evelyn, Pomona, vi. (1729), 71. To raise Tumps, or temporary Banks in the midst of an Inclosure.
1763. J. Hutchins, in Mem. W. Stukeley (Surtees), II. 133. On the top of the hill … are small tumps.
1829. E. Jesse, Jrnl. Nat., 313. Cutting up anthills, or tumps, as we call them.
1881. Freeman, in Life & Lett. (1895), II. 245. A few tumps so old that you can tell nothing about them.
1891. Kelly’s P. O. Guide Herefordsh., 1. Tump is a peculiar term for barrow hills in the western shires … the Tumps at Bolston, Horne Lacy, and Hope Mansel.
2. A clump of trees or shrubs; a clump of grass, esp. one forming a dry spot in a bog or fen.
1802. G. Montagu, Ornith. Dict., N iij. The nest … is placed on a tump or dry spot.
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., xxxi. He … looked ahead of him, from behind a lump of whortles. Ibid. (1880), Mary Anerley, xvii. Every tump of wiry grass.
3. A heap of anything; a hay-cock or rick; a heap of stones.
Also a store-heap of potatoes, turnips, etc., covered with straw and earth (Eng. Dial. Dict.).
1892. Stratford-on-Avon Herald, 5 Aug., 4/2. To sell by Auction,… Tump of Old Hay about 2 tons.
1905. Daily News, 24 Jan., 6. A tump of rubbish.
Hence Tumpy a., of ground: humpy, hummocky.
1825. in Eng. Dial. Dict.
1847–78. in Halliwell.
