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Origin and history of plumb

plumb(n.)

early 14c., "a mass of lead hung on a string to show the vertical line" (mid-14c. as "the metal lead"), from Old French *plombe, plomee "sounding lead," and directly from Late Latin *plumba, originally plural of Latin plumbum "lead (the metal), lead ball; pipe; pencil," a word of unknown origin; Beekes and de Vaan say it probably is unrelated to Greek molybdos "lead" (dialectal bolimos). It is perhaps a loan-word from an extinct language of the western Mediterranean (based on similarities of words in Berber and Basque). The -b was restored in English after c. 1400. Plumb-rule is attested from c. 1400.

also from early 14c.

plumb(v.)

late 14c., plumben, "to sink" (like lead); mid-15c., "weight (a fishing line)," from plumb (n.). Meaning "take soundings with a plumb" is recorded from 1560s; the figurative sense of "to get to the bottom of" is from 1590s. The meaning "to work as a plumber" is by 1889. Related: Plumbed; plumbing.

also from late 14c.

plumb(adj.)

"perpendicular, vertical, true according to a plumb-line," mid-15c., plom, from plumb (n.). As an adverb, "in a vertical direction, straight down," c. 1400. The notion of "exact measurement" led to the extended adverbial sense of "completely, downright" (1748), sometimes spelled plump, plum, or plunk.

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to plumb

plumbing(n.)

mid-15c., "the weighting of a fishing line," verbal noun from plumb (v.). In early Modern English "the art of casting and working in lead." Specific meaning "water and drainage pipes and other apparatus used for conveying water through a building" is recorded by 1875, American English.

THE apparatus by which the water from a reservoir is carried about over a building and delivered at points convenient for use, is called by the general name of plumbing. The word "plumbing" means lead-work; and it is used to signify this water apparatus of a house because the pipes of which it largely consists are usually made of lead. [Edward Abbott, "Long Look House: A Book for Boys and Girls," Boston, 1877]

Alternative plumbery for "lead-work" (also "a building in which lead-work is done") also is mid-15c. The slang meaning "a person's reproductive organs" is attested by 1975.

aplomb(n.)

"assurance springing from confidence in oneself," 1828, from French aplomb "self-possession," literally "perpendicularity" (16c.), from phrase à plomb "poised upright, balanced," etymologically "on the plumb line," from Latin plumbum "(the metal) lead" (see plumb (n.)), of which the weight at the end of the line was made.

The staple figure in novels is the man of aplomb, who sits, among the young aspirants and desperates, quite sure and compact, and, never sharing their affections or debilities, hurls his word like a bullet when occasion requires, knows his way, and carries his points. They may scream or applaud, he is never engaged or heated. Napoleon is the type of this class in modern history ; Byron's heroes in poetry. [Emerson, "Social Aims," 1875]