Late 15c. as "protuberant part;" from 1520s as "a great quantity;" 1590s as "dull, stupid person." Phrase lump in (one's) throat "swelling in the throat," especially "feeling of tightness brought on by emotion," is from 1803. Lumps "hard knocks, a beating" is colloquial, from 1934. Lump sum, covering a number of items at one time, is from 1867 (the same sense of lump is in lump-work, 1851).
early 15c., "to curl up in a ball, to gather into a lump" (implied in lumped), from lump (n.). Transitive meaning "to put together in one mass or group" is from 1620s. Related: Lumped; lumping (from 1705 as a slang present-participle adjective meaning "great, big"):
LUMPING. Great. A lumping pennyworth; a great quantity for the money, a bargain. He has got a lumping pennyworth; frequently said of a man who marries a fat woman. [Grose, "Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 3rd edition, 1796]
1897, from German Lumpenproletariat, coined by Marx, who used it in the sense of "the rabble, poorest of the working class," "who make no contribution to the workers' cause" [OED]. From German lump "ragamuffin," which is related to lumpen "a rag, tatter," probably ultimately related to English lump (n.). With proletariat.
Marx used it first, apparently, in 1850 in German newspaper articles collected and republished in 1895 as "Die Klassenkämpfe in Frankreich 1848-1850." Its secondary sense of "boorish, stupid people" led to lumpen- being taken as a word-forming element meaning "unenlightened."
"mid-day repast, small meal between breakfast and dinner," 1786, a shortened form of luncheon (q.v.) in this sense (1650s), which is of uncertain origin; it appears to be identical with an older word meaning "thick piece, hunk" (1570s), which perhaps evolved from lump (n.) [OED]. There also was a contemporary nuncheon "light mid-day meal," from noon + Middle English schench "drink." Old English had nonmete "afternoon meal," literally "noon-meat" (Middle English non-mete). The verb meaning "to take to lunch" (said to be from the noun) also is attested from 1786:
PRATTLE. I always to be ſure, makes a point to keep up the dignity of the family I lives in. Wou'd you take a more ſolid refreſhment?—Have you lunch'd, Mr. Bribe?
BRIBE. Lunch'd O dear! Permit me, my dear Mrs. Prattle, to refreſh my sponge, upon the honey dew that clings to your raviſhing pouters. O! Mrs. Prattle, this ſhall be my lunch. (kiſſes)
["The Mode," in William Davies' "Plays Written for a Private Theatre," London, 1786]
As late as 1817 the only definition of lunch (n.) in Webster's is "a large piece of food," but this is now obsolete or provincial. OED says in 1820s the word "was regarded either as a vulgarism or as a fashionable affectation." Related: Lunched; lunching.
Lunch money is attested from 1868. Lunch-time is from 1821; lunch hour is from 1840; lunch-break is from 1960. Slang phrase out to lunch "insane, stupid, clueless" first recorded 1955, on notion of being "not there."
1580s, "lump; cluster or small, close group" (especially of shrubs or trees), from Middle English clompe "a lump" (c. 1300), from a Low German source (such as Dutch klomp "lump, mass," or Middle Low German klumpe "clog, wooden shoe"). Old English had clympre "lump, mass of metal."
