In eighteenth-century usage, plumpers were cosmetic devices used to create the appearance of a fuller, healthier face, especially by filling out sunken cheeks or jaws. They could be removable pads placed inside the mouth or against the cheeks. In Jonathan Swift’s satirical poem, the word emphasizes that Corinna’s attractive appearance is artificially constructed from detachable cosmetic aids.

Plumpers comes from plump, meaning full, rounded, or well-filled. The term is archaic in this cosmetic sense, though plumper can have other meanings in other contexts, such as a person who votes for only one candidate. In Swift’s poem, plumpers are part of an extended satirical catalogue of artificial beauty aids, alongside a crystal eye, false eyebrows, false teeth, padding, cosmetics, and hairpieces. A related modern idea is cheek padding or a cosmetic dental/cheek insert, though contemporary beauty practices generally use different materials and terminology.