PLUMB • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Plumb

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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

... a candy sucker from a baby. 'Curly' let go of that 'six' like he was plumb tired of it, and the kid welted him over the ear just oncet. Then he turned on the room; and right there my heart went out to him. He took in the line up at a sweep ...

— Pardners • Rex Beach

... reason, think of wives And children ere they risk their lives. Over the balustrade has bounced A mere instinctive dog, and pounced Plumb on the prize. ...

— Browning's England - A Study in English Influences in Browning • Helen Archibald Clarke

... other strongholds, his evil fortune would have it that he should be killed while attempting to measure certain heights at a difficult point; for when he had put his head out beyond the wall in order to let a plumb-line down, a priest who was with the enemy (who feared the genius of Cecca more than the might of the whole camp) discharged a catapult at him and fixed a great dart in his head, insomuch that the poor fellow died on the spot. The fate and the loss of Cecca caused great grief ...

— Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects - Vol. 3 (of 10), Filarete and Simone to Mantegna • Giorgio Vasari

... upon four parts, the mountain bare Seemed fashioned with the plumb, by builder's skill Nor upon any side was path or stair, Which furnished man the means to climb the hill. The castle seemed the very nest and lair Of animal, supplied with plume and quill. And here the damsel knows 'tis time to slay The wily dwarf, and take ...

— Orlando Furioso • Lodovico Ariosto

... empires, till, O, like the swirl of dust Around their marching legions, that dim cloud Of doubt closed round him. Was there any man So sure of heart and brain as to record The simple truth of things himself had seen? Then who could plumb that night? The work broke off! He knew that he was wrong. I knew it, too! Once more that stately structure of his dreams Melted like mist. His eagles perished like clouds. Death wound a thin horn through the centuries. The grave resumed his forlorn emperors. ...

— Collected Poems - Volume Two (of 2) • Alfred Noyes

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