pomp

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒmp/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑːmp/
• Rhymes: -ɒmp

• Audio (UK, male voice):

  (file)

The noun is derived from Middle English pomp, pompe, from Old French pompe, from Latin pompa (“pomp”), from Ancient Greek πομπή (pompḗ, “a sending, a solemn procession, pomp”), from πέμπω (pémpō, “I send”).

The verb is derived from Middle English pompen, from pomp, pompe (see above).

pomp (countable and uncountable, plural pomps)

1. Show of magnificence; parade; display; power.
   • 1698, Pierre Nicole, “A person of quality”, in Moral Essayes, Contain'd in Several Treatises on Many Important Duties., volume I, page 95:

     'Tis a gross visible errour, which Tertullian teaches in his Book of Idolatry cap. 18. That all the marks of Dignity and Power, and all the ornaments annexed to Office, are forbid Christians, and that Jesus Christ hath plac'd all these things amongst the pomps of the Devil, since he himself appeared in a condition so far from all pomp and splendour.

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

     The deafening claps of thunder and the dazzling flashes of lightning which lit up the ghastly scene testified that the artillery of heaven had lent its supernatural pomp to the already gruesome spectacle.

   • 2019 November 6, “1901 tramcar joins Manchester Victoria celebrations”, in Rail, page 25:

     In its pomp Victoria had 17 platforms, but many of the through platforms were demolished in the early 1990s to make way for the Manchester Arena.

2. A procession distinguished by ostentation and splendor; a pageant.
   • 1713, Joseph Addison, The Guardian:

     […] a more beautiful expression of joy and thanksgiving than could have been exhibited by all the pomps of a Roman triumph.

• in one's pomp
• pomp and circumstance

• pompous
• pomposity
• hypnopompic

pomp (third-person singular simple present pomps, present participle pomping, simple past and past participle pomped)

1. (obsolete) To make a pompous display.
   • a. 1638 (date written), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Under-woods. Consisting of Divers Poems. (please specify the poem)”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: […] Richard Meighen, published 1640, →OCLC:

     pomp'd for those hard trifles

• “pomp”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “pomp”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “pomp”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “pomp”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

From Middle English pompen. Possibly an alteration of pampen (English pamp), from Middle Low German pampen (“to pamper oneself, live luxuriously”), from Old Saxon *pampōn, from Proto-Germanic *pampōną (“to swell”), from Proto-Indo-European *bamb- (“round object”).

pomp (third-person singular simple present pomps, present participle pomping, simple past and past participle pomped)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To pamper.

• “pomp, v1.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

From Dutch pomp, from Middle Dutch pompe.

• IPA^(key): /pɔmp/

• Audio:

  (file)

pomp (plural pompe, diminutive pompie)

1. pump (device for moving liquid or gas)

• → Kwanyama: opomba

From German Pomp.

• IPA^(key): /pɔmp/, [pʰʌmˀb̥]

pomp c (singular definite pompen, not used in plural form)

1. pomp (show of magnificence)

• pragt

From Middle Dutch pompe, probably of imitative origin, similar to Middle Low German pumpen (“to stir water with a stick”). There may have been influence from Spanish bomba (“water pump”), itself ultimately of onomatopoeic origin. Compare bom (“bomb”).

• IPA^(key): /pɔmp/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pomp
• Rhymes: -ɔmp

pomp f (plural pompen, diminutive pompje n)

1. pump (device for moving liquid or gas)
2. (informal) clipping of pompstation (“petrol station, gas station”)

• Afrikaans: pomp
  • → Kwanyama: opomba
• → Caribbean Javanese: kompa, pompa, pompu
• → Indonesian: pompa
• → Japanese: ポンプ
• → Papiamentu: pòmp, pomp
• → Sranan Tongo: pompu
  • → Aukan: pompu
  • → Caribbean Hindustani: pompu

Probably a loan word from the Danish pomp, from the French pompe, from the Latin pompa (“display, parade, procession”), from Ancient Greek πομπή (pompḗ, “a sending”).

• IPA^(key): /pʰɔm̥p/
• Rhymes: -ɔm̥p

pomp n (genitive singular pomps, no plural)

1. ceremony, pomp

   Synonyms: viðhöfn, skraut

• pomp og prakt