plumb

[pluhm]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR plumb ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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 Also plum.

true according to a plumb line perpendicular.

Informal. downright or absolute.

adverb Also plum.

in a perpendicular or vertical direction.

exactly, precisely, or directly.

Informal. completely or absolutely: She was plumb mad. You're plumb right.

verb (used with object)

to test or adjust by a plumb line.

to make vertical.

Shipbuilding. horn(def 32).

to sound with or as with a plumb line.

to measure (depth) by sounding.

to examine closely in order to discover or understand: to plumb someone's thoughts.

to seal with lead.

to weight with lead.

to provide (a house, building, apartment, etc.) with plumbing.

verb (used without object)

to work as a plumber.

Idioms

out of/off plumb, not corresponding to the perpendicular; out of true.

Origin of plumb

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

Related formsplumb·a·ble, adjectiveplumb·less, adjectiveplumb·ness, nounre·plumb, verb (used with object)un·plumb, adjective

Can be confusedplum plumb

Synonyms for plumb

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR plumb ON THESAURUS.COM

2. vertical, straight, square.

Plumb

[pluhm]

noun

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for plumb

penetrate, explore, unravel, fathom, delve, upright, straight, sheer, perpendicular, erect, sound, search, gauge, measure

Examples from the Web for plumb

Contemporary Examples of plumb

He has no redeeming or (even complicating) qualities—no depths to plumb, no angles to survey, no gray areas to explore.
Game of Thrones’ ‘The Lion and the Rose’: Joffrey’s Demented, Shocking Royal Wedding
Andrew Romano
April 14, 2014
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.
Rethink Everything You Think You Know About World War II
David Frum
February 10, 2013
In the “just plumb crazy” class, I put the business of his chaining his mug to the radiator to prevent its being stolen.
Alan Turing’s Brother: He Should Be Alive Today
John Ferrier Turing
June 23, 2012
She believes her illness has bestowed on her a single-mindedness that causes her to plumb the same waters again and again.
Josephine King Connects Madness and Art in London
Casey Schwartz
May 1, 2012
Her companions stuck to the side of the road, but Suu Kyi walked into the middle, plumb in the line of fire.
‘The Lady and the Peacock’: Peter Popham’s Biography Reveals the Real Aung San Suu Kyi
Peter Popham
March 29, 2012

Historical Examples of plumb

He'll be plumb stoop-shouldered if he don't hurry up and get the new kicked off of 'em.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
It is the vertebra which steadies him plumb up to a positive perpendicular.
Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 11, June 11, 1870
Various
You bet I shut him up quick—saying a thing like that about a plumb stranger.
Ruggles of Red Gap
Harry Leon Wilson
If all this newspaper stuff is so Albert was right all the time and I was plumb wrong.
The Portygee
Joseph Crosby Lincoln
It's my sobri'ty that's my ondoin', that an' bein' plumb moral.
Faro Nell and Her Friends
Alfred Henry Lewis

British Dictionary definitions for plumb

plumb

noun

a weight, usually of lead, suspended at the end of a line and used to determine water depth or verticality

the perpendicular position of a freely suspended plumb line (esp in the phrases out of plumb, off plumb)

adjective Also: plum

(prenominal) informal, mainly US (intensifier)a plumb nuisance

adverb Also: plum

in a vertical or perpendicular line

informal, mainly US (intensifier)plumb stupid

informal exactly; precisely (also in the phrase plumb on)

verb

(tr often foll by up) to test the alignment of or adjust to the vertical with a plumb line

(tr) to undergo or experience (the worst extremes of misery, sadness, etc)to plumb the depths of despair

(tr) to understand or master (something obscure)to plumb a mystery

to connect or join (a device such as a tap) to a water pipe or drainage system

Derived Formsplumbable, adjective

Word Origin for plumb

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

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

Word Origin and History for plumb

"lead hung on a string to show the vertical line," early 14c., from Old French *plombe, plomee "sounding lead," and directly from Late Latin *plumba, originally plural of Latin plumbum "lead (the metal), lead ball; pipe; pencil," a word of unknown origin, related to Greek molybdos "lead" (dialectal bolimos) and perhaps from an extinct Mediterranean language, perhaps Iberian.

early 15c., "to sink" (like lead), from plumb (n.). Meaning "take soundings with a plumb" is first recorded 1560s; figurative sense of "to get to the bottom of" is from 1590s. Related: Plumbed; plumbing.

adj.

"perpendicular, vertical," mid-15c., from plumb (n.). The notion of "exact measurement" led to extended sense of "completely, downright" (1748), sometimes spelled plump, plum, or plunk.