galumph

galumph
verb
ga·;lumph g;-;l;m(p)f
galumphed; galumphing; galumphs
Synonyms of galumph
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, as 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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of galumph was in 1871
See more words from the same year