Advertisement

View synonyms for plumb

plumb

1

[ pluhm ]

noun

  1. a small mass of lead or other heavy material, as that suspended by a line and used to measure the depth of water or to ascertain a vertical line. Compare plumb line.


adjective

  1. true according to a plumb line perpendicular.

    Synonyms: square, straight, vertical

  2. Informal. downright or absolute.

adverb

  1. in a perpendicular or vertical direction.
  2. exactly, precisely, or directly.
  3. Informal. completely or absolutely:

    She was plumb mad. You're plumb right.

verb (used with object)

  1. to test or adjust by a plumb line.
  2. to make vertical.
  3. Shipbuilding. horn ( def 32 ).
  4. to sound with or as with a plumb line.
  5. to measure (depth) by sounding.
  6. to examine closely in order to discover or understand:

    to plumb someone's thoughts.

  7. to seal with lead.
  8. to weight with lead.
  9. to provide (a house, building, apartment, etc.) with plumbing.

verb (used without object)

  1. to work as a plumber.

Plumb

2

[ pluhm ]

noun

  1. J(ohn) H(arold), 1911–2001, British historian.

plumb

/ plʌm /

noun

  1. a weight, usually of lead, suspended at the end of a line and used to determine water depth or verticality
  2. the perpendicular position of a freely suspended plumb line (esp in the phrases out of plumb, off plumb )
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


adjective

  1. informal.
    prenominal (intensifier)

    a plumb nuisance

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adverb

  1. in a vertical or perpendicular line
  2. informal.
    (intensifier)

    plumb stupid

  3. informal.
    exactly; precisely (also in the phrase plumb on )
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. troften foll byup to test the alignment of or adjust to the vertical with a plumb line
  2. tr to undergo or experience (the worst extremes of misery, sadness, etc)

    to plumb the depths of despair

  3. tr to understand or master (something obscure)

    to plumb a mystery

  4. to connect or join (a device such as a tap) to a water pipe or drainage system
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Discover More

Derived Forms

  • ˈplumbable, adjective
Discover More

Other Words From

  • plumba·ble adjective
  • plumbless adjective
  • plumbness noun
  • re·plumb verb (used with object)
  • un·plumb adjective
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of plumb1

1250–1300; Middle English plumbe, probably < Anglo-French *plombe < Vulgar Latin *plumba, for Latin plumbum lead
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of plumb1

C13: from Old French plomb (unattested) lead line, from Old French plon lead, from Latin plumbum lead
Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. out of / off plumb, not corresponding to the perpendicular; out of true.
Discover More

Example Sentences

Hold the weight plumb under your shoulder and next to your hip on your standing-leg side.

The show’s science fiction background and action-packed battles keep each episode engaging, even during the slower-paced moments when it plumbs the depth of each character’s mental state.

From Time

The city had likewise been disappointed by its own forensic experts, the outside digital-audio specialists who neither police nor prosecutors had sought out to plumb the Gaines tape.

From Time

It’s an at-times challenging work that plumbs her maternal relationship to its deepest depths.

From Time

Miller says he sympathizes with what I’m saying about the power of art coming from the connection with a human artist, plumbing their emotions and consciousness.

He has no redeeming or (even complicating) qualities—no depths to plumb, no angles to survey, no gray areas to explore.

Nearly 65 years after the fact, it's amazing how much of what we think we know about Britain's "finest" hour is just plumb wrong.

In the “just plumb crazy” class, I put the business of his chaining his mug to the radiator to prevent its being stolen.

She believes her illness has bestowed on her a single-mindedness that causes her to plumb the same waters again and again.

Her companions stuck to the side of the road, but Suu Kyi walked into the middle, plumb in the line of fire.

Then, grandpaw, he turns round to the baby again, plumb took up with them four new nippers.

He put his hand to his belt, screwed up his mug, and said he felt plumb et up inside.

I just sit there, knocked plumb silly, almost, and looked at a big rose in the carpet.

An' I'm here t' declare that it's plumb foolish t' mix things with that layout till we can see t' shoot tolerable straight.

On either side of this isolated bar of sandstone a plumb-line might have been dropped straight to the level of the river.

Advertisement

Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


plumateplumbaginaceous