plumb
/plʌm/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northern England/plʊm/
plumb noun: a little mass of lead, or the like, attached to a line, and used by builders, etc., to indicate a vertical direction. Also the obsolete spelling of plum.
Noun
plumb (plural plumbs)
- A little mass of lead, or the like, attached to a line, and used by builders, etc., to indicate a vertical direction.
- A weight on the end of a long line, used by sailors to determine the depth of water.
- The perpendicular direction or position.
- Customers turned away from rickety chairs, stands of drawers that refused to open, or had no handles, lop-sided wardrobes whose doors were out of plumb or whose mirrors were cracked.1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 61
Adjective
plumb (comparative more plumb, superlative most plumb)
- Truly vertical, as indicated by a plumb line.
- Synonyms:
- perpendicular
- Describing an LBW where the batsman is hit on the pads directly in front of their wicket and should be given out.
Adverb
plumb (not comparable)
- In a vertical direction; perpendicularly.
- Plumb down he drops.1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker...
- Squarely, directly; deeply, completely.
- 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.
Verb
plumb (third-person singular simple present plumbs, present participle plumbing, simple past and past participle plumbed)
- To determine the depth, generally of a liquid; to sound.
- To attach to a water supply and drain.
- The kitchen sink is now plumbed in / up.
- To think about or explore in depth, to get to the bottom of.
- to plumb the depths of
- Delving to the core of her heart, his blue-green eyes plumbed her psyche, stripping it of all defenses, all resolve.2011, Catherine Lanigan, The Texan
- To use a plumb bob as a measuring or aligning tool.
- To accurately align vertically or horizontally.
- To seal something with lead.
- To work as a plumber.
- Synonyms:
- plumber
- To fall or sink like a plummet.
- To trace a road or track; to follow it to its end.
- To position vertically above or below.
Proper noun capitalized: Plumb
Plumb (plural Plumbs)
- A surname.
Also used as
plumb is also the obsolete spelling of plum.
Examples of plumb in a sentence
- Well, by morning the little girl was coolsome, but plumb wore down to nothing.
- In my haze of alcohol, I thought for one crazy instant that he had plumbed my secret.
- I never was so plumb mistook in all of my born days.”
Synonyms of plumb
Forms of plumb
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | plumbs |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more plumb |
| superlative | most plumb |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | plumbs |
| present participle | plumbing |
| past participle | plumbed |
| past | plumbed |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Plumbs |
Origin of plumb
From Middle English plumbe, plumme, from Old French *plombe, from Latin plumba, plural of plumbum.
Words formed from plumb
Phrases with plumb
Words that rhyme with plumb
Questions about plumb
- What does plumb mean?
- Plumb means a little mass of lead, or the like, attached to a line, and used by builders, etc., to indicate a vertical direction.
- What part of speech is plumb?
- Plumb can be a noun, an adjective, an adverb or a verb.
- How do you pronounce plumb?
- Plumb is pronounced /plʌm/.
- What is the plural of plumb?
- The plural of plumb is plumbs.
Words near plumb in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: plumb (page history and authors); Plumb (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-plum.ogg, en-au-plumb.ogg.
Cite this entry: “plumb.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plumb. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.