PLUMB • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Plumb

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/pləm/ Listen

noun

Plumb n. A little mass or weight of lead, or the like, attached to a line, and used by builders, etc., to indicate a vertical direction; a plummet; a plumb bob. See Plumb line, below.

Plumb bob. See Bob, 4.

Plumb joint, in sheet-metal work, a lap joint, fastened by solder.

Plumb level. See under Level.

Plumb line.

(a)

The cord by which a plumb bob is suspended; a plummet.

(b)

A line directed to the center of gravity of the earth.

Plumb rule, a narrow board with a plumb line, used by builders and carpenters.

verb

Plumb v. t. (past & past part. plumbed; pres. part. plumbing)

To adjust by a plumb line; to cause to be perpendicular; as, to plumb a building or a wall.

To sound with a plumb or plummet, as the depth of water; hence, to examine by test; to ascertain the depth, quality, dimension, etc.; to sound; to fathom; to test. "He did not attempt to plumb his intellect."

To seal with lead; as, to plumb a drainpipe.

To supply, as a building, with a system of plumbing.

adjective

Plumb adj. Perpendicular; vertical; conforming the direction of a line attached to a plumb; as, the wall is plumb.

adverb

Plumb adv. In a plumb direction; perpendicularly. "Plumb down he falls."

See images of 'Plumb'

Etymology of 'Plumb'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Plumb" Quotes from Famous Books

... ascertained the deflection of plumb lines from the vertical, by the action of mountains. The attraction of a projecting mass of known bulk and density, with one whose bulk alone is known, is thus determined, and hence the density of the latter ...

— The American Quarterly Review, No. 17, March 1831 • Various

... big depot water tanks burnt plumb up this mawnin', an' reckonin' whar that'd happen a feller might ketch fire anywhere in them little old town trails, I jes' nachally pulled ...

— The Red-Blooded Heroes of the Frontier • Edgar Beecher Bronson

... such a child in worldly matters that it was pleasant to me to have the right to pay a woman's bills; I enjoyed seeing her garments lying about on my chairs. In time that exultation wore off. But I was not unhappy, I didn't expect much, I was always so sure that no woman could ever plumb ...

— Dear Brutus • J. M. Barrie

... hurry. Didn't the old man tell you I could stay here a year? What's the use of me goin' now, just when you're goin' to start to reform me? Why," he finished, surveying her with interest; "I reckon the old man would be plumb tickled to see the way you're carryin' on—obeyin' his last wishes." He rested his head on his ...

— The Boss of the Lazy Y • Charles Alden Seltzer

... he were eating it with me. Why, there's Baretti, who is to be tried for his life to-morrow, friends have risen up for him on every side; yet if he should be hanged, none of them will eat a slice of plumb-pudding the less. Sir, that sympathetic feeling goes a very little ...

— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 2 • Boswell

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