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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

plumb.

A little mass of lead, or the like, attached to a line, and used by builders, etc., to indicate a vertical direction.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/plʌm//plʊm/Northern-England
  1. A little mass of lead, or the like, attached to a line, and used by builders, etc., to indicate a vertical direction.

  2. A weight on the end of a long line, used by sailors to determine the depth of water.

  3. The perpendicular direction or position.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English plumbe, plumme, from Old French *plombe, from Latin plumba, plural of plumbum.

adj/plʌm//plʊm/Northern-England
  1. Truly vertical, as indicated by a plumb line.

  2. Describing an LBW where the batsman is hit on the pads directly in front of their wicket and should be given out.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English plumbe, plumme, from Old French *plombe, from Latin plumba, plural of plumbum.

adv/plʌm//plʊm/Northern-England
  1. In a vertical direction; perpendicularly.

    not-comparable
  2. Squarely, directly; deeply, completely.

    informal · not-comparable
    It hit him plumb in the middle of his face.
    Years ago the well plumb dried out, not a drop of water in there since.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English plumbe, plumme, from Old French *plombe, from Latin plumba, plural of plumbum.

verb/plʌm//plʊm/Northern-England
  1. To determine the depth, generally of a liquid; to sound.

  2. To attach to a water supply and drain.

    The kitchen sink is now plumbed in / up.
  3. To think about or explore in depth, to get to the bottom of.

    figuratively · transitive
    to plumb the depths of
  4. To use a plumb bob as a measuring or aligning tool.

  5. To accurately align vertically or horizontally.

  6. To seal something with lead.

    dated
  7. To work as a plumber.

    intransitive
  8. To fall or sink like a plummet.

    rare
  9. To trace a road or track; to follow it to its end.

    US · colloquial · figuratively · obsolete
  10. To position vertically above or below.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English plumbe, plumme, from Old French *plombe, from Latin plumba, plural of plumbum.

noun/plʌm//plʊm/Northern-England
  1. Obsolete spelling of plum (“the fruit”).

    alt-of · obsolete
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.