plunging

Etymology

verb

1. present participle and gerund of plunge

adj

1. That descends steeply.
2. Aimed from higher ground, as fire upon an enemy.
3. (of the neckline of a dress) Very low-cut.

noun

1. An occurrence of putting or sinking under water or other fluid.
2. A headlong violent motion like that of a horse trying to throw its rider.
   Like one who after a night of drunken revelry hies to his bed, still reeling, but with conscience yet pricking him, as the plungings of the Roman race-horse but so much the more strike his steel tags into him; […]. 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick; or The Whale
   Then followed a confusion of kicks, cuffs, tramplings and plungings, accompanied by a thunderous intermingling of volleyed curses, and finally a bitter apostrophe to the mule, which must have broken its spirit, for hostilities seemed to cease from that moment. 1881, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), The Prince and The Pauper, Complete