sump
/sʌmp
/noun
1A hollow or depression in which liquid collects, especially one in the floor of a mine or cave.The firm also claimed that each skip had four drainage holes to allow waste liquid to drain into a sump....
- All the leachate drains by gravity from the leachate collection layer to a sump, from which it is pumped out of the landfill for treatment and disposal.
- Back then there were not many cave divers active in the Yorkshire Dales and most sumps were virtually unexplored.
1.1A cesspool.If all houses and apartment complexes keep their water tanks and sumps clean and treated with chlorine frequently, mosquito breeding can be prevented to an extent....
- ‘No power in our house also means we cannot pump water from the sumps to the tank,’ Mukund, a resident, complained.
- A waste sump overflowed in September causing hundreds of gallons of contaminated water to pour into the Gullielands Burn which flows through the Chapelcross site.
2The base of an internal combustion engine, which serves as a reservoir of oil for the lubrication system.Older engines used a camshaft located in the sump near the crankshaft....
- There is also a ladder frame assembly between the sump and crankcase.
- They prevent the fuel/air mixture and exhaust in the combustion chamber from leaking into the sump during compression and combustion.
Origin
Middle English (in the sense 'marsh'): from Middle Dutch or Low German sump, or (in the mining sense) from German Sumpf; related to swamp.
swamp from early 17th century:
Swamp is first found in the compound ‘swampwater’ and probably goes back to a Germanic root with the senses ‘sponge, fungus’. Sump (Middle English) is probably related, as it is first found with the meaning ‘swamp’.