plumb

[ pluhm ]

/ plʌm /

Save This Word!

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.

OTHER WORDS FOR plumb

2 vertical, straight, square.

See synonyms for plumb on Thesaurus.com

QUIZ

CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Idioms about plumb

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

OTHER WORDS FROM plumb

plumb·a·ble, adjectiveplumbless, adjectiveplumbness, nounre·plumb, verb (used with object)

un·plumb, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH plumb

plum, plumb

Other definitions for plumb (2 of 2)

Plumb

[ pluhm ]

/ plʌm /

noun

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use plumb in a sentence

To really plumb the depths of the experiment, I wanted to explore my own life.
Ved Mehta, whose monumental autobiography explored life in India, dies at 86|Harrison Smith|January 12, 2021|Washington Post
The stock, while worth only about a quarter of its all-time high in 2013, has risen sixfold since plumbing all-time lows back in March.
How Bed Bath & Beyond’s CEO tamed its trademark coupons—and turned the retailer around|Phil Wahba|November 10, 2020|Fortune
It didn’t turn me into a botanist, but I learned to appreciate the passion and dedication it takes to continue the hunt for a last surviving plant, or plumb mysteries of the universe in miniature.
In praise of serendipity — and scientific obsession|Nancy Shute|November 6, 2020|Science News
In plays such as The Best Man and Visit to a Small Planet, he both plumbed its depths and added another dimension to it.
Remembering the Surprisingly Vulnerable Gore Vidal|Lee Siegel|August 1, 2012|DAILY BEAST

The book is quintessentially Orlean: a seemingly shallow topic plumbed to remarkable depth.
Must Love Dogs|Adam Auriemma|September 30, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Few writers have plumbed a region's dark history so thoroughly or profoundly.
Great Weekend Reads|The Daily Beast|February 4, 2011|DAILY BEAST
The chasm into which a mile-wide sheet of water plunges has been plumbed to twice the depth of Niagara.
Birds and All Nature, Vol. VI, No. 3, October 1899|Various
Except for an occasional deep rift, whose bottom plumbed to the sea-water, the going was excellent.
The Home of the Blizzard|Douglas Mawson
The resources that we had been led to believe had been plumbed to their depths were now revealed to us as inexhaustible.
Harper's Pictorial Library of the World War, Volume XII|Various
And now that he had had his way and plumbed the depths of her emotions and desires he had a higher estimate of her personality.
The "Genius"|Theodore Dreiser
Safer still from the law, no mortal eye had plumbed the profound night of Lucretia's awful guilt.
Lucretia, Complete|Edward Bulwer-Lytton

British Dictionary definitions for plumb

plumb

/ (plʌm) /

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 forms of plumb

plumbable, 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

plumb

OTHER WORDS FOR plumb

Idioms about plumb

Origin of plumb

OTHER WORDS FROM plumb

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH plumb

Other definitions for plumb (2 of 2)

Words related to plumb

How to use plumb in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for plumb

Derived forms of plumb

Word Origin for plumb