plumbum

American  

[pluhm-buhm] / ˈplʌm bəm /

noun

Chemistry.

1. lead.

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plumbum British  

/ ˈplʌmbəm /

noun

1. an obsolete name for lead 2

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Etymology

Origin of plumbum

Borrowed into English from Latin around 1910–15

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plumbum

The Romans used lead in jewelry, cooking pots, utensils, wine, cosmetics, water pipes—“plumbing” comes from plumbum, Latin for lead—even as they recognized that lead exposure could cause paralysis, delirium, sterility, and palsy.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 4, 2016

Being apparently insoluble, it was used to line aqueducts and make water pipes - the word "plumber" derives from the Latin for lead, plumbum.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2014

A Plummer, i.e. a man who worked in lead, Lat. plumbum, is now written, by etymological reaction, plumber, though the restored letter is not sounded.

From The Romance of Names by Weekley, Ernest

This was, unquestionably, not the harmless plumbago to which that name is now usually given, but galena, or plumbum nigrum, a native sulphuret of lead, probably used for a glaze by the potters of Charlestown.

From The Trial and Execution, for Petit Treason, of Mark and Phillis, Slaves of Capt. John Codman Who Murdered Their Master at Charlestown, Mass., in 1755; for Which the Man Was Hanged and Gibbeted, and the Woman Was Burned to Death. Including, Also, Some Account of Other Punishments by Burning in Massachusetts by Goodell, Abner Cheney

It is by no means certain that this is tin, for usually tin is given as plumbum candidum.

From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius