plumb line
- a cord with a lead bob attached to one end, used to determine perpendicularity, the depth of water, etc.Compare plumb(def 1).
- plumb rule.
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Origin of plumb line
First recorded in 1530–40
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for plumb line
Historical Examples
Will and the Professor were by the ice shaft, watching the plumb-line.
Doctor Jones' PicnicS. E. Chapman
“Maybe you did not use the plumb-line, Master Leo,” observed Jack.
In the Wilds of AfricaW.H.G. Kingston
In the game way the stem and stern were measured with a plumb-line.
In the Wilds of AfricaW.H.G. Kingston
When I comes to rekillect how an' where he got that 'ere back, it looks to me like a plumb-line.
There is no plumb-line to measure the depths of thy shame, so deep is that abyss.
The ValkyriesEdward Frederic Benson
plumb line
- a string with a metal weight at one end that, when suspended, points directly towards the earth's centre of gravity and so is used to determine verticality, the depth of water, etc
- another name for plumb rule
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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
plumb line
[plŭm]
- A line regarded as directed exactly toward the Earth's center of gravity.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.