| 释义 |
▪ I. plumb, n.|plʌm|
Forms: 3–7 plumbe, 3–9 plum, 4–7 plumme, 5 plomme, 5–6 plombe, 5–7 plume, 6 plome, 7– plumb.
[ad. F. plomb:—L. plumb-um lead; the ME. forms plumbe, plombe, plomme, app. a. OF. *plombe, plomme (1309 in Godef.) sounding lead:—late L. *plumba, orig. pl. of plumbum. In sense 2 app. f. plumb v.]
1. A mass or ball of lead, used for various purposes.
a. The weight attached to a mason's plumb-line, to secure its perpendicularity; also a weight attached for the same purpose to a quadrant.
off plumb or out of plumb, out of the perpendicular.
a1300Cursor M. 2247 Wit cord and plum [v.rr. plumbe, plumme] þai wroght sa hei. 14..in Halliw. Rara Math. (1841) 58 Til..þe threde whereon þe plumbe henges falle vpon þe mydel lyne of þe quadrant. c1440Promp. Parv. 405/2 Plumbe, of wryhtys or masonys (K., P. plumme..), perpendiculum. 1530Palsgr. 256/1 Plumbe for a carpenter, riglet. 1769Wales in Phil. Trans. LX. 151 The spirits of wine, in which the plumb of the quadrant is immersed. 1858W. Arnot Laws fr. Heaven Ser. ii. xv. 128 They suspend their plumb, not from the middle, but from one edge of the rule. 1891Pall Mall G. 2 Mar. 3/2 The column is seriously off plumb. 1906Expositor Feb. 180 It is not level.., and therefore, being out of plumb, must sooner or later fall.
b. A sounding-lead, a mariner's plummet; also a plummet used by anglers to measure the depth of a stream or pond. Also fig.
[Cf.1309Joinville Vie de S. Louis cxxii. (Godef.), Giete ta plomme.] c1440Lovelich Merlin 4564 He Sank a-down lik a plom of led. 1530Palsgr. 256/1 Plumbe for a shyppeman, plomb de sonde. a1653G. Daniel Idyll. ii. 8 For once that word had weight, a whineing Man Hangs to the Plumme. 1863Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. xi. 276 His mind intellectual plumb hath never yet sounded.
c. In other senses (chiefly obs.), as: a small piece of lead with which a scourge or rod is loaded; a weight of a clock or of a similar instrument; a small weight attached to a fishing-line below the float, to keep the latter in an upright position; a ball or bullet of lead as a missile; a kind of dumb-bell.
a1350St. Laurence 191 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 110 With staues he bad þai suld him bete And pelt on him with plumes of lede. c1440J. Capgrave St. Kath. v. 1133 Bete hir and reende hir with Iern and plummes of leed! a1450Fysshynge w. an Angle (1883) 16 Þe next plume to the hoke schall be ther from a large fote & more and euery plumbe of quantite to þe gretnes of the lyne. 1463Bury Wills (Camden) 28 To..wynde vp the peys and the plummys as ofte as nede is. 1496Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 293 Lede to ȝet the plumbis. Ibid. 295 To cary the plumbis of lede fra the Abbay to the clos cartis. 1601Dent Pathw. Heaven 281 The plumbe of a clocke, being the first moouer, doth cause all the other wheeles to mooue. 1625Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 296 For a rope for the great plume of the clocke, 2s. 6d. 1681J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. iv. §14 (1689) 46 The least weight of Plumb or Lead you can. 1867J. B. Rose tr. Virgil's æneid 211 They..hurled from slings the deadly plumb of lead.
2. Sc. and north. dial. ‘A deep pool in a river or the sea; a perpendicular fall’ (E.D.D.). (Usually spelt plum.)
1819in R. Ford Harp Perth. (1893) 208 (E.D.D.) Yon fause stream, that near the sea, Hides monie a shelve and plum. 1835J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1856 IV. 235 Tak tent you dinna droon me in some plum. 1895Ochiltree Redburn xv. 144 The ‘plums’ were the only parts of its narrow channel that showed signs of water.
3. Comb.: † plumb-right a., exactly vertical; † plumb-wise (plim-wise) adv., in the manner of a plumb-line, perpendicularly.
1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 826/2 Wyth a strynge by the halfe keepe them plume right vnder. 1552Huloet, Plummeryght downe, perpendicularis. 1613M. Ridley Magn. Bodies vii. 26 The Waight C is attracted plim-wise to the Axis A.B.
▪ II. plumb, plum, a. and adv.|plʌm|
Forms: 5 plom, 6 plome, plum(m)e, 6–7 plumbe, 5– plum, 7– plumb (9 plomb).
[f. plumb n.]
A. adj.
1. Vertical, perpendicular.
c1460Towneley Myst. iii. 520 The water, syn she [the dove] com, Of depnes plom, Is fallen a fathom. 1519W. Horman Vulg. 240 All wallis..muste be made leuell and plumme. 1613M. Ridley Magn. Bodies 142 A waight..fastned at the bottome to hold this ring plumbe and steady. 1715Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) I. 1 The care of erecting the Walls very plum. 1897Bailey Princ. Fruit-growing 245 Necessity for staking and tying the trees to keep them plumb.
2. a. Downright, thorough-going; sheer.
1748Richardson Clarissa (1810) IV. xi. 259 Neither can an opposition, neither can a ministry, be always wrong. To be a plumb man, therefore, with either is an infallible mark, that the man must mean more and worse than he will own he does mean. 1894Chicago Advance 6 Sept., Nothing but pests—just plum pests. 1904C. Marriott Genevra vi. 106 Addling their brains with plum trash about love and all.
b. Cricket. Of the wicket: Level, true.
1902Daily Chron. 29 July 3/2 To witness a modern first⁓class match on a ‘plumb’ wicket. 1903Ld. Hawke in Westm. Gaz. 13 Mar. 9/2, I believe there are counties who go into the field on a day when, we will say, there is a plumb wicket, and say ‘we shall be here until half-past six’.
B. adv. [Cf. F. à plomb straight down.]
1. Of motion or position: Vertically, perpendicularly; straight down; rarely, straight up.
c1400Laud Troy Bk. 1833 Hit was diked doun plum, That no man myȝth ther-ouer com. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 24 Diches..so brode and so plume [ed. 1550 plum, Grafton plumme] stepe yt was wondre to behold. 1601Holland Pliny I. 8 When the Sunne shineth directly plumbe ouer mens heads, and causeth no shadow. 1640G. Abbot Job Paraphr. 252 The eagle is so strong as to mount plum up..to an infinit height. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 933 Fluttring his pennons vain plumb down he drops. 1755Young Centaur v. Wks. 1757 IV. 240 Shall we rush, as down a precipice, and leap plumb into the jaws of extempore death? 1843Carlyle Past & Pr. ii. xiii, The Abbot, starting plumb up..answered [etc.]. 1849Ruskin Sev. Lamps iv. §11. 103 Drapery..fell from their human forms plumb down.
2. transf. and fig.
a. Exactly, directly, precisely.
1601Holland Pliny xviii. xxxiv. 609 The wind Septentrio that bloweth plumbe North, is far more daungerous and mischievous. 1701Cibber Love Makes Man ii. ii, Lay your Lips softly, softly, close and plum to hers. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1810) III. lvi. 303 Her daughter..imagined herself plumb against me. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xx. 147 Most of them [Delawares] can hit ‘plumb centre’ with any of their mountain associates. 1871Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. i. 246 The famous diatribe against Jesuitism in the Latter-Day Pamphlets..points plumb in the same direction.
b. Immediately, directly, straight.
a1734North Exam. i. iii. §144 (1740) 216 If the Lords had come plumb upon their Trial, and..had been acquitted, the politic Crisis had been at an End.
c. As an intensive: Completely, entirely, absolutely, quite. Chiefly U.S. slang.
1587Misfortunes of Arthur (1828) ii. iv. Chorus 41 Then rowles and reeles and falles at length plum ripe. 1787Grose Provinc. Gloss., Plum pleasant, very pleasant. 1846S. F. Smith Theatr. Apprenticeship 213 Long before the time arrived..the house was plum, chock full—full to overflowing. a1861T. Winthrop John Brent xxviii. 296 When we got here, I paid their tickets plum through to York out of my own belt. 1882Burdett Life Penn v. 83 Penn..wrote his wife and children a long letter..which filled them plumbfull of good advice. 1893Harper's Weekly Christmas 1211/1 ‘You're plumb crazy’, she remarked, with easy candor. 1897Kipling Capt. Cour. 21 You've turned up, plain, plumb providential for all concerned. 1901F. Norris Octopus i. iii. 121 ‘I'll get plumb out of here,’ he trumpeted. ‘I won't stay here another minute.’ 1926‘R. Crompton’ William—the Conqueror v. 89 Poor woman! She's sure plumb crazy! 1934A. Christie Murder on Orient Express ii. ix. 136 ‘You are sure of that, M. Hardman?’ ‘I'm plumb certain.’ 1967G. F. Fiennes I tried to run a Railway vii. 76 In his presence I was tense, tongue-tied and often plumb stupid. 1973E. Lemarchand Let or Hindrance xiv. 182 They must both be plumb crazy.
▪ III. plumb, v.|plʌm|
Also 4 plumben, 5 plome, 5–7 plumbe, 6 plombe, 6–9 plum.
[f. plumb n. and a., in various unconnected senses; partly perh. after F. plomber (1539 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
I.
1. intr. To sink or fall like a plummet; to fall or plump straight down. rare.
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 186 Þer hertis ben so hevy þat þei plumben doun to helle. 1940Sat. Even. Post 6 Apr. 17/3 [He] rolled down [from a house-top] & plumbed into the yard.
II.
2. a. trans. To sound (the sea, etc.) with a plummet; to measure (the depth) by sounding.
a1568Satir. Poems Reform. xlvi. 29 Plum weill the grund quhat evir ȝe doo. 1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Plomber, to plombe or sounde the depth of a thing. 1708J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. i. iii. (1737) 10 Poole's-Hole..has been plumbed to the Depth of 800 Fathom, and yet no Bottom found. 1726Swift Gulliver i. v, I consulted the most experienced seamen upon the depth of the channel, which they had often plummed. 1867F. Francis Angling ii. (1880) 71 The depth having been carefully plumbed.
b. fig. To sound the depths of; to fathom, to reach the bottom of.
1599Broughton's Let. xii. 40 Though Plato and Hermes haue plumbd it deeply, must wee reach no further, then their shallow sounding? 1847Lytton Lucretia ii, Silently she looked down, and plumbed them all [infirmities]. 1849Clough Amours de Voy. v. 151 So I plumb the deeps of depression.
c. to plumb a track (U.S. colloq.), to trace or follow out a road.
1844Mrs. Houston Yacht Voy. Texas II. 205 Plumbing the track, the Texan term for tracing a road, is, at all times, a slow and tedious operation. 1892J. L. Lawless in Country Church (Buckland, Mass.) 16 Mar., I..always noticed that when Old Rover took one track and plumbed it through, he holed the game.
III. 3. To render vertical, to adjust or test by a plumb-line. Also fig.
1711W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 162 To Plum, to hew any Piece downright, or perpendicular. 1795Phil. Trans. LXXXV. 448 Slender staffs were..made upright, by being plumbed in directions at right angles to each other. 1874Thearle Naval Archit. 23 They are valuable aids in plumbing the frames and keeping the side of the ship fair.
4. a. To place vertically above or below.
1838Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 235/1 Above will be elegant sheds and powerful cranes, to plumb the hold. 1875Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. vii. (ed. 2) 264 The shears should be so placed that a boat..may come under them, or be ‘plumbed’ from their heads when sloped.
b. intr. To hang vertically.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., To plumb, to form the vertical line. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 121 The purchase [will] plumb clear of the ship's side.
IV.
†5. trans. (?) To solder with lead. [Cf. Cotgr. ‘Plomber, to lead, or tinne; also, to soulder, or colour with lead,’ etc.] Obs.
c1479Paston Lett. III. 271 A standing cuppe with a cover therto plommed.
6. To weight with lead.
a1450Fysshynge w. an Angle (1883) 16 Your lynys must be plomed with leyd. 1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 512 After your hooke is thus fastened, you shall plumbe your line; which is to fasten certain pieces of lead..about it. 1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 243 Stake this Net athwart the River; the bottom being plumbed, that it may sink about six inches. 1811W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. LXVI. 464 The oars are plumbed in the handle, so as to balance on the edge of the boat.
7. To seal (luggage) with a leaden seal.
1756Nugent Gr. Tour, France IV. 20 When your luggage has been searched, you had better have your trunk plumbed with a leaden stamp for Paris. 1788Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 473, I shall have the whole corded and plumbed by the Custom house here. 1820M. Starke Direct. Trav. on Cont. ii. 36 We had our trunks plumbed, in order to secure them from examination [by the custom-house officers].
V. [Back-formation from plumber.]
8. intr. To work in lead as a plumber. Also trans. (colloq.)
1889W. S. Gilbert Foggerty's Fairy, etc. (1892) 217, I am a plumber... I have plumbed in the very best families. 1901Speaker 30 Mar. 703/1 There was once a perfect being who did actually plumb. Mod. newspaper, The house has been duly plumbed, painted, and whitewashed.
9. trans. To connect (a domestic appliance or the like) permanently to the water supply and the drain. Usu. with in.
1963Which? 6 Feb. 46/2 The Easiclene [dishwashing machine] would normally be plumbed in, but could be used with hoses from a tap and into a sink. 1976I. Chanarin et al. Blood & its Dis. ix. 79 Automatic equipment using potentially toxic reagents should be plumbed-in. 1976Star (Sheffield) 20 Nov. 10/7 (Advt.), Abbey Plumbing Emergency Service. Bursts and leaks, washing machines plumbed, gas fitting and alterations.
Hence ˈplumbing ppl. a., doing plumbers' work.
1896Daily News 1 Feb. 3/1 Even the plumbing fraternity cannot grumble. It is a mistake..to suppose that a very rigorous winter is the best for plumbers.
▪ IV. plumb
see plum. |