plumb1
v.
- measure (the depth of a body of water).
- explore or experience fully or to extremes:
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she had plumbed the depths of depravity.
- test (an upright surface) to determine the vertical.
n.
a lead ball or other heavy object attached to a line for finding the depth of water or determining the vertical on an upright surface.
adv.
- informal exactly:
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plumb in the centre.
- N. Amer. extremely or completely:
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they must be plumb crazy.
- archaic vertically.
adj.
- vertical.
- Cricket (of the wicket) level; true.
History
The word plumb entered Middle English via Old French, from the Latin plumbum ‘lead’. It shares this root with the words plumber, plummet, and aplomb. A plumber was originally a tradesman who worked with lead, which was formerly used for water pipes. In the Middle Ages plummet denoted a plumb or plumb line; its use as a verb to mean ‘fall rapidly’ is a 20th-century development. Aplomb entered English from the French phrase à plomb ‘according to a plummet’: it originally meant ‘perpendicularity, steadiness’.
plumb2
v.
(
plumb something in)
Brit. install a bath, washing machine, etc. and connect it to water and drainage pipes.
▸install and connect pipes in (a building or room).
Etymology
C19: back-form. from plumber.
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