Definition

1. Verb:
   • To pitch, to set up, to plant, to fix: To drive or place something firmly into a surface or a base.
   • To stake out: To mark or claim an area by driving stakes into the ground.
   • To hang (the head): To lower one's head, often due to sadness, shame, or deep thought.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Họ cắm lều trên đồi. (They pitched a tent on the hill.)
  • Cô ấy cắm những bông hoa vào bình. (She placed the flowers in the vase.)
  • Nó cắm đầu xuống gối mà khóc. (He buried his head in the pillow and cried.)

Advanced Usage

• "cắm sừng": To cheat on one's partner (literally: to plant horns).

  • Anh ta bị vợ bắt quả tang cắm sừng. (He was caught red-handed by his wife cheating on her.)

• "cắm cổ": To work very hard and persistently (literally: to bury one's neck).

  • Cô ấy cắm cổ học để thi đỗ đại học. (She studied relentlessly to pass the university entrance exam.)

Variants and Related Words

• Cắm cúi (adv): Intently, with deep concentration (often with the head down).

  • Nó làm việc cắm cúi cả ngày. (He worked intently all day.)

• Cắm rễ (verb phrase): To take root; to become firmly established.

  • Cây non đã bắt đầu cắm rễ vào đất. (The young tree has begun to take root in the soil.)

Synonyms

• Cắm (to plant/fix): Ghim (to pin), Đóng (to drive in, to nail).
• Cắm (to hang head): Cúi (to bow), Gục (to droop, to slump).

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

• Cắm mặt vào: To be engrossed in, to have one's face buried in something.

  • Đứa trẻ cắm mặt vào điện thoại. (The child is engrossed in his phone.)

• Cắm đầu cắm cổ: To do something headlong, recklessly, or with great determination.

  • Nó chạy cắm đầu cắm cổ ra khỏi nhà. (He ran headlong out of the house.)

Related Idioms

• Cắn răng cắn lợi / Cắn răng chịu đựng: To grit one's teeth and endure.

  • Dù khó khăn, anh ấy vẫn cắn răng chịu đựng. (Despite the hardship, he still gritted his teeth and endured it.) (Note: This idiom uses "cắn" (to bite), which is a different but phonetically similar verb to "cắm").

• Không một tấc đất cắm dùi: To not have an inch of land to drive a stake into; to be extremely poor or landless.

  • Gia đình nghèo đến mức không một tấc đất cắm dùi. (The family was so poor they didn't have an inch of land to their name.)

verb

1. To pitch, to set up, to plant, to fix
   • cắm lều
     to pitch a tent
   • cắm trại
     to (pitch a) camp
   • địch cắm bốt cạnh đường cái
     the enemy set up a post near the highway
2. To stake out
   • không một tấc đất cắm dùi
     to have not an inch of land to drive a stake in, to have not room to swing a cat
3. To hang (the head)