plumber
/ˈplʌm.ə/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northern England/ˈplʊm.ə/
plumber noun: one who works in or with lead.
Noun
plumber (plural plumbers)
- One who works in or with lead.
- One who furnishes, fits, and repairs pipes and other apparatus for the conveyance of water, gas, or drainage.
- Mario and Luigi's profession is plumbers.
- Hannah Spencer, a local plumber and Green party councillor, was elected as the party’s first MP in northern England after overturning Labour’s 13,000-vote majority.2026 February 27, Josh Halliday, “Green party wins Gorton and Denton byelection, pushing Labour to third place in blow to Keir Starmer”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
- A person who investigates or prevents leaks of information.
- It involved the break-in of the office of Mr. Lewis Fielding, Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist, by the White House “plumbers.”1979, United States. Congress. House. Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Subcommittee on Legislation, Espionage Laws and Leaks: Hearings Before the Subcommittee...
- In the Royal Navy, an apprentice, a boy aged 16 to 18, who is trained in technical skills at the Dockyard Schools to become an artificer.
- A urologist.
- […] began the month with an operation at St. Joseph Hospital in Aurora, Ill. His surgeon, by the way, was a "plumber” – urologist.1958, Father Provincial Assumption B.V.M. Monastery, The Chronicle, volumes 12-13, page 39
- Within surgery, the "cleaner" specialties, such as cardiac and neurosurgery, outrank the plumbers (urologists) and proctologists.1983, Toni Martin, How to Survive Medical School, page 127
Verb
plumber (third-person singular simple present plumbers, present participle plumbering, simple past and past participle plumbered)
- To botch or ruin.
- There is nothing to work him into a fine feeling of agony and despair like an exam scheduled for the next day, or a paper to write, or a concert in which he is to sing. Wish him the top of the morning when he is looking forward to one of these events, and then hear the woeful story of how badly he...1930, “Paul Thomas Martin”, in Joseph W. Martin, editor, The Record, Haverford, Pa.: The Class of 1930, Haverford College, →OCLC, page 54
- And yet she sent back his letters unopened and crashed down the telephone receiver on him with monotonous regularity. Well, he guessed it was his own fault. He’d plumbered the works beyond repair that first day.1939 June 16, Edwin Rutt, “Four Blind Dates”, in The Kingston Daily Freeman, volume LXVIII, number 204, Kingston, N.Y.: Freeman Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 6, column 2
- Synonyms:
- plumber up
- To work as a plumber.
- Joe Staudinger plumbered so well that on Saturday night boiling water came from both hot and cold faucets.1939 November 28, “Nordenotes”, in Sierra Club Yodeler, volume 1, number 19, San Francisco, Calif.: San Francisco Bay Chapter, Sierra Club, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 5, column 1
- Most of us were at the bottom end of the service industry, the ones who plastered or plumbered by day and painted or wrote at night.1995, John Yau, “A Little Memento from the Boys”, in Garrett Hongo, editor, Under Western Eyes: Personal Essays from Asian America, New York, N.Y.: Anchor Books/Doubleday, →ISBN, page 323
- Synonyms:
- plumb
- To work on (something) as a plumber.
- PIPES PLUMBERED BY US stay plumbered till they wear out. No leaky joints or splitting follow our work. How about the pipes on your steam or hot water heater? Don’t they need repacking or perhaps replacing? HAVE US LOOK AT THEM NOW.1908 September 29, Deetz & Mullen, “Pipes Plumbered by Us”, in The Evening Times, city edition, volume XLIV, number 231, Cumberland, Md., →OCLC, page 7, column 7
- Water shows up where no water ever was seen before as the underground water table riseth and runneth over. The surface of the world is a chocolate pudding plumbered by an untutored bride who failed to read the directions.1962 March 17, Truman Twill, “Mud in Your Eye”, in The Salem News, volume 74, number 66, Salem, Oh.: Brush-Moore Newspapers, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 6
- Synonyms:
- plumber up
- To do, work, devise (something).
- Q. [Mr. Goodman] At the period of time we have spoken of, that strike settled down, did it not, in 1910 and 1911, and there was no strike? A. [Fred C. Schanberger] No. Q. What happened to the Vaudeville Managers’ Co-operative Association’s activities at that time? A. Oh, they kind of plumbered it...1919 October 15, “Federal Investigation”, in Variety, volume LVII, number 6, New York, N.Y.: Variety, published 2 January 1920, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52, column 3
- The other afternoon Silly here pilfered a melody from the classics, threw a little jazz at it and I plumbered some words. I got a copy of them with me now. Grab this while it’s hot, Joe.1925 February 7, C[arleton] S[tevens] Montanye, “Swan’s Song”, in The Popular Magazine, volume LXXV, number 2, New York, N.Y.: Street & Smith Corporation, →OCLC, page 77, column 1
- To equip (something) with plumbing.
- How many times should a bathroom be “plumbered”? IT should be “plumbered” once more if it is an old bathroom of the tin-tub, iron-pipe era. Call in your plumber and have him rip out the old, unsanitary fixtures and the rusting iron or steel pipe and put in modern fixtures connected with good brass...1928 July, Chase Brass & Copper Co., “Alpha Brass Pipe”, in Richardson Wright, editor, House & Garden, volume LIV, number 1, Greenwich, Conn.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 117
- The silver grey timbers he turned inside out or rather put the weathered side in, heated and plumbered the place and, with his freezing apparatus can live off his chickens, ducks and garden-produce all the year round.1943 July, Oliver St. John Gogarty, letter to Martha Gogarty; quoted in J[ohn] B[enignus] Lyons, “There is a Happy Land . . .”, in Oliver St. John Gogarty: The Man of Many Talents: A Biography...
- Synonyms:
- plumber up
plumber meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
plumber in Hindi
- one who fits, etc, pipes for water, gas or drainage
- कसेरा kaserā, नलकार nalkār, नलसाज़ nalsāz, प्लंबर plambar
plumber in Tamil
- பிளம்பர்
plumber in Marathi
- प्लंबर
plumber in Urdu
- one who fits, etc, pipes for water, gas or drainage
- پلمبر plambar, نل کار nal kār
More languagesFewer languages
- plumber in Bengali
- প্লাম্বার
- plumber in Telugu
- ప్లంబర్
- plumber in Malayalam
- ജലക്കുഴൽപ്പണിക്കാരൻ, ഈയപ്പണിക്കാരൻ, പ്ലംബർ
- plumber in Kannada
- ನಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡುವವ, ಕೊಳಾಯಿ ರಿಪೇರಿ ಮಾಡುವವ, ಕೊಳಾಯಿಗಾರ
- plumber in Punjabi
- ਪਲੰਬਰ
- plumber in Gujarati
- પ્લમ્બર
- plumber in Odia
- ପ୍ଲାମ୍ବର୍, ପ୍ଲମ୍ବର, ପ୍ଲମ୍ବର୍
- plumber in Nepali
- प्लम्बर, प्लम्बरलाई
- plumber in Tagalog
- tubero
- plumber in Arabic
- سَبَّاك sabbāk
- plumber in Indonesian
- tukang ledeng, tukang pipa
- plumber in Persian
- لولهکش lule-keš
- plumber in Vietnamese
- thợ sửa ống nước
- plumber in Myanmar
- ရေပိုက်သမား repuiksa.ma:
Examples of plumber in a sentence
- Wish him the top of the morning when he is looking forward to one of these events, and then hear the woeful story of how badly he is going to be plumbered.1930, “Paul Thomas Martin”, in Joseph W. Martin, editor, The Record, Haverford, Pa.: The Class of 1930, Haverford College, →OCLC, page 54:
- If it was not east of where I had started out, I had plumbered myself sure enough, because I didn’t have the energy to go back the other way.1993, James Dickey, To the White Sea (A Marc Jaffe Book), Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 226:
- [S]he cleaned rich people’s houses—did her work and saved her wages, and Clarence carpentered and plumbered[,] hauled stuff in the old red truck and Ernestine drove to work in a new Datsun.1997, John Oliver Simon, “Fuchsia”, in Danielle La France, editor, Berkeley! A Literary Tribute, Berkeley, Calif.: Heyday Books, →ISBN...
- Oh, they kind of plumbered it along and I think I never heard of it so far as I am concerned until this second strike was started.1919 October 15, “Federal Investigation”, in Variety, volume LVII, number 6, New York, N.Y.: Variety, published 2 January 1920, →ISSN...
Synonyms of plumber
Forms of plumber
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | plumbers |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | plumbers |
| present participle | plumbering |
| past participle | plumbered |
| past | plumbered |
Origin of plumber
From Middle English plumber, from Old French plummier (French plombier); from Latin plumbārius, from plumbum (“lead or lead shot”). The verb sense “to botch” is perhaps from the negative stereotype of the occupation.
Words formed from plumber
Phrases with plumber
Words that rhyme with plumber
Questions about plumber
- What does plumber mean?
- Plumber means one who works in or with lead.
- What is plumber in Hindi?
- Plumber in Hindi is कसेरा (kaserā), नलकार (nalkār), नलसाज़ (nalsāz). See Plumber meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use plumber in a sentence?
- Wish him the top of the morning when he is looking forward to one of these events, and then hear the woeful story of how badly he is going to be plumbered.
- What part of speech is plumber?
- Plumber can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce plumber?
- Plumber is pronounced /ˈplʌm.ə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of plumber?
- The plural of plumber is plumbers.
Words near plumber in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: plumber (page history and authors); plumber (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); plumber (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); plumber (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); plumber (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); plumber (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plumber (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plumber (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); plumber (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); plumber (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); plumber (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
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Cite this entry: “plumber.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plumber. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.