plummetn.
/ˈplʌmɪt/, U.S. /ˈpləmət/ 1. A piece of lead or other heavy material attached to a line, used for measuring the depth of water; a sounding lead. Also figurative and in figurative contexts.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > navigational aids > [noun] > sounding-line or -rod > weight on sounding-line
plummetc1384
leadc1440
sounding-lead1485
sinking lead1648
blue pigeon1818
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Deeds xxvii. 28 The whiche sendinge doun a plomet, founden twenty pasis of depnesse.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde iii. v. f. 121 He coulde at no tyme touche the grounde with his soundynge plummet.
1572 J. Bridges tr. R. Gwalther Hundred, Threescore & Fiftene Homelyes vppon Actes Apostles clxix. 880 When they had cast out their plumbet the seconde time, and perceyued that the sea waxed verie shaule.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iii. iii. 101 Therefore my Sonne i'th Ooze is bedded; and I'le seeke him deeper then ere plummet sounded. View more context for this quotation
1632 S. Marmion Hollands Leaguer ii. ii Your politicians with their..plummets of wit, sound the depth of me.
1664 R. Stapylton Step-mother i. 12 He's forty fathom deep below my plummit.
1713 E. Young Poem on Last Day i. 20 Where never Plummet reach'd, He draws his Breath.
1745 E. Young Consolation 92 Man's Science is the Culture of his Heart; And not to lose his Plummet in the Depths Of Nature, or the more Profound of God.
a1750 A. Hill Wks. (1753) 325 Then, like sunk plumbets, to the bottom, dive.
1849 E. Bulwer-Lytton Caxtons I. i. iii. 16 Certainly there were deeps in his nature which the plummet of her tender woman's wit had never sounded.
1860 M. F. Maury Physical Geogr. Sea (ed. 8) xiii. §574 The greatest depths at which the bottom of the sea has been reached with the plummet are in the North Atlantic Ocean.
1906 J. London White Fang iv. vi. 260 Love was the plummet dropped down into the deeps of him where like had never gone.
1955 L. P. Hartley Perfect Woman (1959) 260 Wouldn't it be better to take it under cover of darkness to the canal—and drown it, deeper than ever plummet sounded?
2001 Spectator (Hamilton, Ont.) (Nexis) 16 June t3 The figure is a sailor, and he is actually holding a lead plummet, something once used for sounding channels.
2.
a. A ball of lead or other heavy material attached to a plumb line for determining the vertical; (also) the whole instrument, including line and weight; a plumb rule. Now rare.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > equipment for marking out work > [noun] > plumb-line or chalk-line
poundereOE
righteOE
line1340
plummeta1398
plumba1400
perpendicle?c1400
plumb rulec1400
levelc1440
pendant1440
plumb linea1456
levelling-rule1598
perpendicular1604
plummet levelc1850
point-brass1850
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 13v Þey beþ I-seye haue trolles and honginge plomettes & mesures.
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Zech. i. 16 Myn hous schal be bildid in it..and a plomet [c1384 Douce 369(2) an hangynge lyne; L. perpendiculum] schal be streiȝt out on Jerusalem.
a1450 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe ii. §23. 42 A plomet hangyng on a lyne, heygher than thin heved.
?a1500 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 602/19 Perpendiculum, a plumet.
1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique ii. f. 83v The Carpenter hath his Squyre, his Rule, and his Plummet [1580 plomette].
1581 W. Borough Discours Variation Cumpas ii. sig. B.ij So as it may stande leuell, and the Plummet..may fall perpendicularly.
1636 W. Bedwell tr. P. de la Ramée Via Regia ad Geometriam ix. 117 Now the perpendicularity of the Index, in measurings of lengthts, may be tried by a plummet of lead appendent.
a1701 H. Maundrell Journey Aleppo to Jerusalem (1703) 75 No Architect with levels and plumets could build a Room more regular.
1744 Philos. Trans. 1740–41 (Royal Soc.) 41 750 A machine, cased with glass, in which a plumbet hangs, to set the table level.
1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §97 As we were..exposed to fresh gales of wind..there was no trusting to the perpendicularity of Threads and Plumbets.
1870 W. C. Bryant tr. Homer Iliad I. ii. 7 The plummet showed Their height the same.
b. figurative and in figurative contexts. A criterion of truth, a means of testing or judging; a standard. (Now only in biblical use.)
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the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > trial, test, or testing > [noun] > criterion
rulec1384
meteyard?1531
touchstone?1531
plumb line1551
plummet1553
metewanda1568
touch1581
stone of touch1604
criterion1622
scale1626
criteriuma1631
measure1641
judge1642
criterie1660
foot-rule1662
mark1765
point of reference1772
metera1825
reference point1849
yardstick1869
benchmark1884
1553 tr. S. Gardiner De Vera Obediencia: Oration 5 By the perfect line and plummet of Gods word.
1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. xviii. 335 That he may holde the Plommet of his minde steddy without shaking or stirring.
1611 Bible (King James) Isa. xxviii. 17 Iudgement also will I lay to the line, and righteousnesse to the plummet . View more context for this quotation
1677 R. Gilpin Dæmonol. Sacra iii. xvii. 140 Lay all to the Line and Plummet of the written Word.
1961 Bible (New Eng.) Isa. xxviii. 17 I will use justice as a plumb-line and righteousness as a plummet.
c. A ball of heavy metal attached by a line to a quadrant or other scientific instrument.
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the world > the universe > cosmology > science of observation > astronomical instruments > measuring altitude > [noun] > quadrant or sextant > part of quadrant or sextant
quadrat?c1400
geometrical square?a1560
plummet?a1560
limb1593
line of shadows1728
limbus1738
horizon-glass1774
the world > the earth > earth sciences > geography > map-making > surveying > [noun] > surveying instruments > part of a surveying instrument
plummet1866
?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) i. viii. sig. D j Conuey the lefte side of your quadrant Geometricall towarde the Sunne, the threade and Plummet hauing their free course.
1625 N. Carpenter Geogr. Delineated i. vi. 157 The line and plummet falling on the Basis, shall make right Angles with it.
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (1721) II. 99 Hold your Quadrant so as that your Plummet may fall on 45 Degrees.
1866 R. M. Ferguson Electricity 22 A small plummet hangs down from the object-glass of the theodolite.
1935 C. J. Smith Intermediate Physics (ed. 2) v. xli. 688 The residual torsion is reduced almost to zero by replacing the magnet..by a brass plummet of about the same mass and allowing this to swing until it comes to rest.
3. A stick of lead for writing, ruling lines, etc.; a lead pencil; (also) this as a medium for writing. Now historical.
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society > communication > writing > writing materials > writing instrument > [noun] > lead pen or pencil
plummet?1440
black lead?a1560
black lead pen1612
black lead pencil1660
lead-pen1682
red lead pen1682
red lead pencil1686
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) ii. 482 (MED) My lord biholdith on his book; ffor sothe al nought, he gynnyth crossis make With a plummet.
a1500 in D. W. Singer Catal. Lat. & Vernacular Alchemical MSS (1931) II. 619 (MED) All that thu dyde portryde with thi plumet or with thi blakepene.
1634 J. Bate Myst. Nature & Art 104 Then with your blacke chalke or blacke lead plummets, draw it as perfectly..as you can.
1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. v. iv. 16 You must rule your Paper or Parchment with an obscure plummet.
1811 J. Parkins Young Man's Best Compan. 26 A leaden plummet or pencil to rule lines.
1828 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Plummet..a piece of lead used by schoolboys to rule their paper for writing.
1954 N. Denholm-Young Handwriting in Eng. & Wales 59 In the twelfth century lead ruling, with a plummet, becomes common and eventually supersedes the earlier system of ruling by the dry-point.
1972 E. J. Dobson Eng. Text Ancrene Riwle p. xlviii All three scribes use plummet or pencil as well as pen and ink.
a. A ball or lump of lead (in other contexts), esp. as used as a weapon or missile, an ornament, or to weigh things down. Obsolete.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > [noun] > ball of lead as missile
plummet1452
gland1852
plumb1867
society > authority > punishment > corporal punishment > instrument or place of corporal punishment > [noun] > whip or scourge > lead in
plumba1425
plummet1452
plumbate1851
the world > matter > properties of materials > weight or relative heaviness > [noun] > ponderable matter > that which is heavy or a heavy mass > used on account of its weight
weightc1425
pound1450
poise1531
plummet1612
pondus1719
weighting1875
1452–3 Inventory Norwich in Norfolk Archaeol. (1895) 12 214 (MED) Item, vj plumbetts rotundi inclusi corio..Item, v plumbetts longi super altare.
1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde i. xvii. 53 Yf one threwe a stone or an heuy plomette of leed that wel weyed.
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 171/1 Thenne dyd he doo bete Saynt Urbane wyth plommettys.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) II. f. clxxxviv They toke stonys & plummettes of lede & trussyd them secretely in theyr sleuys & bosomys.
1579–80 T. North tr. Plutarch Lives (1676) 769 They themselves were also hurt by them with their Darts and Plummets of Lead.
1609 P. Holland tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. 330 Sericus and Asbolius..he caused to be killed with the mightie pelts of plumbets.
1612 T. Dekker If it be not Good sig. B2v Wey down his loftiest boughes With leaden plomets.
1695 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. III. ii. 92 Sometimes there were Plummets of Lead at the End of them, to bruise and batter the Flesh.
b. figurative. A thing which presses or weighs down; something oppressive. Obsolete.
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the world > matter > properties of materials > weight or relative heaviness > [noun] > ponderable matter > that which is heavy or a heavy mass
weightc1374
load1594
plummet?1623
?1623 J. Hayward Davids Teares 53 My hope, which was weighed downe with the leaden plumets of sinne, is now at liberty.
?a1625 Lawes of Candy iv. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Hhh4/1 When sad thoughts perplexe the mind of man, There is a plumit in the heart, that waighs, And puls us (living) to the dust we came from.
a1682 Sir T. Browne Let. to Friend (1690) 11 Hang early Plummets upon the Heels of Pride.
1882 C. H. Spurgeon Treasury of David VI. Ps. cxix. 25 Earthly cares and sins have..attached a leaden plummet to the wings of a soul which..would fain soar upwards.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > sharp weapon > side arms > [noun] > hilt, generally > knob on hilt
pommelc1330
plummet1488
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) vii. l. 77 Off topaston him thocht the plumat was.
a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1960) xii. xii. 97 Quhen that he saw hys rycht hand wapynles, And persauyt the plummet was onknaw.
a1530 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Royal) iii. i. 46 His suerd at he baire prevely [He] put it in his wambe sa fast Till it in to þe plomat past.
1587 in D. Masson Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1881) 1st Ser. IV. 205 The plumbattis or gairdis of ane of thair swerdis.
1607 in D. Masson Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1885) 1st Ser. VII. 418 Plumbat.
1700 Edinb. Gaz. 11–14 Nov. A sheering sword with a Hogskin Scabert, the Handle, shell, and plummet of Silver.
1784 in G. Caw Poet. Museum 30 Dickie cou'd na win to him wi' the blade o' the sword, But feld 'im wi' the plumet under the eie.
6. † a. A leaden weight used in lifting exercises; the weight attached to a whirlbat, a kind of club used in games or exercise. Cf. whirlbat n. 1. Obsolete.† c. A weight in a clock; (also figurative) a motive force, a prompt to action. Obsolete.† d. A suspended weight used as a metronome. Obsolete.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > gymnastics > [noun] > equipment
plummet?1537
springboard?1780
horse1785
trampoline1798
club1815
gallows1817
Indian club1825
rope1825
horizontal bar1827
trapeze1830
vaulting bar1839
parallel bars1850
wooden horse1854
trapezium1856
giant stride1863
ring1869
vaulting horse1875
mast1880
fly-pole1884
pommel1887
Roman ring1894
mat1903
wall bar1903
pommel horse1908
buck1932
pommel vault1932
landing mat1941
rebounder1980
?1537 T. Elyot Castell of Helthe ii. xxxiii. f. 50 Mouynge of the armes up and downe, or stretchynge theym oute, and playenge with weapons, serueth most for the armes and shulders, stoupynge and rysynge often tyme, or lyftynge great weightes, takynge up plummettes or other lyke..these do exercyse the backe and loines.
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Cæstus, a weapon hauyng great plummates hangyng at the ende of a clubbe.
1572 J. Jones Benefit Bathes of Buckstones f. 12v Plumbetes..one borne in eche hand vp and downe the stayers..may bee a good and profitable exercise.
a1661 B. Holyday Illustr. 4th Sat. in Decimus Junius Juvenalis & Aulus Decimus Flaccus Translated (1673) 321/2 The Castus..some describe to have been a kind of club, having plummets of lead fastned to it, which some call a whorle-bat.
b. Angling. A weight attached to a fishing line, used to keep the float upright, to anchor a ledger bait, or to measure the depth of the water.
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the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > weight > [noun]
plumbc1450
plummet1577
leada1609
sinker1785
swan-shot1856
sinkstone1857
net sinker1865
net-weight1865
sink1865
bullet1867
block-shot1883
shotting1979
1577 Arte of Angling sig. Avv Wher be your plumbets and your plumb?
1616 G. Markham tr. C. Estienne et al. Maison Rustique (rev. ed.) iv. xvi. 512 You shall vnderstand, that your first plummet would be a foot from the hooke, the rest not aboue an ynch one distant from another, & not being aboue fiue or seuen at the most.
1653 T. Barker Art of Angling 3 Feeling the Plummet running on the ground.., plumming my Line according to the swiftnesse of the stream.
1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler vii. 155 If you would have this ledger bait to keep at a fixt place..then hang a small Plummet of lead, a stone, or piece of tyle. View more context for this quotation
1736 Compl. Family-piece ii. ii. 256 A Piece of thin Sheet-lead rolled up, of about an Ounce or better, makes the best Plummet.
1763 ‘T. Bobbin’ Toy-shop (new ed.) (Gloss.) at Brog There are two Ways of fishing for Eels, call'd Brogging, one with a long Pole, Line, and Plummet, the other by putting the Hook and Worm on a small Stick, and thrusting it into Holes where the Eels lye.
1868 J. C. Wilcocks Sea-fisherman (ed. 2) 78 A soldier-line is one of two-stranded hemp twine, having for a sinker a two pound Mackerel plummet.
1988 Coarse Fishing Handbk. June–July (Suppl.) 19/1 We took a pokey float rod, a big float and a plummet, and we plumbed every part of it we could reach.
2001 Daily Star (Nexis) 6 Jan. 47 Wycombe matchman Alan Brand landed the biggest fish of his career—a 22lb 10oz pike—on a brass plummet.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > instruments for measuring time > clock > [noun] > part(s) of
nut1428
peise1428
plumbc1450
Jack1498
clockwork1516
larum1542
Jack of the clockhouse1563
watch-wheel1568
work1570
plummeta1578
Jack of the clock1581
snail-cam1591
snail-work1591
pointer1596
quarter jack1604
mainspring1605
winder1606
notch-wheel1611
fusee1622
count-wheel1647
jack-wheel1647
frame1658
arbor1659
balance1660
fuse1674
hour-figure1675
stop1675
pallet1676
regulator1676
cock1678
movement1678
detent1688
savage1690
clock1696
pinwheel1696
starred wheel1696
swing-wheel1696
warning-wheel1696
watch1696
watch-part1696
hoop-wheel1704
hour-wheel1704
snail1714
step-wheel1714
tide-work1739
train1751
crutch1753
cannon pinion1764
rising board1769
remontoire1774
escapement1779
clock jack1784
locking plate1786
scapement1789
motion work1795
anchor escapement1798
scape1798
star-wheel1798
recoil escapement1800
recoiling pallet1801
recoiling scapement1801
cannon1802
hammer-tail1805
recoiling escapement1805
bottle jack1810
renovating spring1812
quarter-boy1815
pin tooth1817
solar wheel1819
impulse-teeth1825
pendulum wheel1825
pallet arbor1826
rewinder1826
rack hook1829
snail-wheel1831
quarter bell1832
tow1834
star pulley1836
watch train1838
clock train1843
raising-piece1843
wheelwork1843
gravity escapement1850
jumper1850
vertical escapement1850
time train1853
pin pallet1860
spade1862
dead well1867
stop-work1869
ringer1873
strike-or-silent1875
warning-piece1875
guard-pin1879
pendulum cock1881
warning-lever1881
beat-pin1883
fusee-piece1884
fusee-snail1884
shutter1884
tourbillion1884
tumbler1884
virgule1884
foliot1899
grasshopper1899
grasshopper escapement1899
trunk1899
pin lever1908
clock spring1933
the world > existence and causation > causation > cause or reason > [noun] > reason or ground
achesounc1230
anchesouna1250
reasona1250
groundc1275
matter1340
purposec1350
cause1413
quarrel1476
actiona1500
subject1577
spring of action1583
qualitya1586
inducement1593
place1593
theme1594
instance1597
motive1605
impulsivea1628
justifiera1635
foundation1641
rise1641
plummet1679
mainspring1695
a1578 J. Heywood Witty & Witless 316 in Two Moral Interludes (1991) 30 The plummets of that clocke come never to grownd.
1594 T. Nashe Terrors of Night sig. Ciij Such is our braine oppressed with melancholy, as is a clocke tyde downe with too heauie weights or plummets.
1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer viii. 2561 The Clock, whose plummets are not weight, Strikes sometimes one for three, and sixe for eight.
1651 J. Howell S.P.Q.V. 6 The counterpoise of rewards and punishments may be sayed to have bin the plummetts which have made the great clock of this Commonwealth to go tru so many ages.
1679 J. Goodman Penitent Pardoned (1713) ii. ii. 185 Let us now see what are the springs or plummets that set this great engine on work.
1697 Davies's Original & Immortality Soul Pref. sig. bv Remarking how one part moves another,..from the first Springs and Plummets, to the very Hand that points out the visible and last Effects.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > instruments for measuring time > [noun] > metronome
plexichronometer1786
metronome1816
chronometer1837
plummet1844
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > duration of notes > tempo > [noun] > metronome
metrometer1769
plexichronometer1786
rhythmometer1812
metronome1816
chronometer1837
plummet1844
accentuator?1845
M1904
1844 Queen's Regulations & Orders Army 140 The Music for Slow and Quick Time is to be practised..with the plummet, until the prescribed cadence has been acquired.
7. A rapid fall; an instance of plummeting rapidly. Chiefly figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > [noun] > rapid or hasty
hurlc1550
downrush1855
plummet1957
1957 Atchison (Kansas) Daily Globe 24 Apr. 9/3 After his plummet from fame, Keaton became a writer.
1988 Mountain Democrat (Placerville, Calif.) 7 Sept. a10/2 One turn off the serene Highway 50 corridor can mean a sudden plummet down a brake-crushing canyon road.
2000 P. Moy & M. Pfau With Malice toward All? i. 25 The nation's institutions have never recovered from the sudden and dramatic plummet in trust levels that occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive.† plummet-club n. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1632 J. Vicars tr. Virgil XII Aeneids v. 120 Him..who best flings darts about: Or, fight with plummet-clubs doth best affect.
b. Instrumental.
plummet-measured adj.
ΚΠ
1939 W. B. Yeats Last Poems 16 And pressed at midnight in a public place Live lips upon a plummet-measured face.
c. Similative.
plummet-deep adv. and adj.
ΚΠ
1767 W. Harte Amaranth 163 But plummet-deep he sunk, un-buoy'd with sense.
1878 Times 17 June 11/5 To bury plummet-deep in oblivion the literary sins of his youth.
1938 W. de la Mare Memory & Other Poems 38 Fleeter than Nereid, plummet-deep, Enticed by some long-sunken ship, She [sc. Memory]..laughs out to see The treasure she retrieves for me.
plummet-shaped adj.
ΚΠ
1876 tr. F. Zirkel Microsc. Petrogr. iii. 46 Plummet-shaped and vermiform objects having a prevailing direction.
1922 Nebraska State Jrnl. 9 Mar. 1/7 An elongated, tubular, plummet-shaped device made of nickel-plated iron.
2001 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) Mar. 21 Plummet-shaped, quartz crystal charm stones.
C2.
plummet level n. a mason's level with a plummet suspended above the base.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > equipment for marking out work > [noun] > plumb-line or chalk-line
poundereOE
righteOE
line1340
plummeta1398
plumba1400
perpendicle?c1400
plumb rulec1400
levelc1440
pendant1440
plumb linea1456
levelling-rule1598
perpendicular1604
plummet levelc1850
point-brass1850
c1850 E. A. Andrews Copious & Crit. Lat.-Eng. Lexicon 878/3 Libella, level, water-level, plummet-level.
1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Plummet-level, that form of a level having a suspended plummet in a standard at right angles to the base-piece. A mason's level.
2001 Scotsman (Nexis) 12 Jan. 12 Yesterday, the shares closed up 3p at 324p. While this is nowhere near the pre-1999 plummet level, it represents a 42 per cent gain on the low it touched in June.
plummet line n. a plumb line (in various senses).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > agreement, harmony, or congruity > conformity to or with a pattern, etc. > [noun] > a standard or norm
regulaOE
standardc1475
rate1509
square1549
formular1563
squarier1581
scantling1587
the King's beam1607
referencea1627
modulea1628
norme1635
the common beam1647
normaa1676
plummet line1683
norm1821
modulus1857
normative1909
1683 J. Lead Revelation of Revelations 12 Until the Lord himself come with the Plummet-Line of the Holy Spirit to measure out the meaning.
1730 E. Oakley Mag. Archit., Perspective, & Sculpt. v. 94 Those Parts which recede inward, and are so removed out of the Reach of Sight and easy Access, that the Plummet-Line cannot come to touch them.
1843 C. Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) xxi. 266 Each long black hair upon his head hung down as straight as any plummet line.
1863 N. Hawthorne Our Old Home I. 171 Shakespeare has surface beneath surface..adapted to the plummet-line of every reader.
2001 Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee) (Nexis) 8 Apr. g4 What follows is..a story, as well-laid out as a blueprint, as straight as any plummet line.
Derivatives
ˈplummetless adj. unfathomable.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > vertical extent > extension downwards or depth > [adjective] > very
groundlessc888
bottomlessc1400
profound?a1425
neal1574
soundlessc1595
insoundable1602
gulfy1607
unbottomed1615
depthless1619
unsoundable1629
chin-deep1634
fathomless1638
abysming1644
unfounded1648
abysmal1656
plumbless1665
unfathomablea1676
chasmy1793
fathom-deep1835
plummetlessc1861
chasmal1871
abyssal1903
c1861 E. Dickinson Poems (1955) I. 193 To drop a life Into the mystic well—Too plummetless.
1893 National Observer 11 Mar. 413/2 There is no deep so plummetless.
1977 P. Muldoon Mules 26 For I like to think..That a holy well is no more shallow Nor plummetless than the pools of Shiloh.
1996 I. Bamforth Open Workings 74 A bodily straining upwards Out of mud, cement, the plummetless grasses.
ˈplummet-wise adv. in the manner of a plummet.
ΚΠ
1890 Woodland (Calif.) Daily Democrat 15 Nov. Dropping his knife and lanyard plummet-wise down the outside of his leg.
1895 K. Grahame Golden Age (1904) 18 On the blue ocean of air, a hawk hung ominous; then, plummet-wise, dropped to the hedgerow.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
plummetv.
/ˈplʌmɪt/, U.S. /ˈpləmət/ 1. transitive. To determine the depth of with a plummet; to sound. Frequently figurative. Now rare.
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the world > relative properties > measurement > measurement of length > measurement of other dimensions > measure other dimensions [verb (transitive)] > depth
sound1581
plummet1620
1620 T. Walkington Rabboni 120 This ought to be the barre, cancell and limit of our too scrutinous nature, which often will assay to plummet the fathomlesse and bottomlesse sea of Gods most secret and hidden actions.
1626 T. Hawkins tr. N. Caussin Holy Court I. ii. 221 Depths are plummeted [Fr. on fonde les mers].
1873 L. Beach Cornwall 114 The well..has been plummeted to the depth of sixty feet.
1898 Nebraska State Jrnl. 19 Dec. 6/5 There are great abysses within us only plummeted by parental love.
1908 Gettysburg (Pa.) Compiler 5 Feb. Man, though, has plummeted woman's heart and charted it better than she could do herself.
1926 N.E.D. at Unsounded ppl. adj.3 Not sounded or plummeted.
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the world > space > relative position > vertical position > make vertical [verb (transitive)] > make a vertical line
to let falla1400
to let fall?a1560
plummet1711
1711 W. Sutherland Ship-builders Assistant 67 Strike the streight Line 4. 3. 1. 5. and plummet that Line down at the Ends of your Piece.
3.
a. intransitive. To drop or fall rapidly or precipitously; to plunge down. Also figurative.
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the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > falling > fall [verb (intransitive)] > fall steeply or swiftly
of-fallOE
tumblec1330
stoopa1400
plumba1425
rushc1440
to ding downa1500
precipitate1608
plummet1845
nosedive1920
1845 N. P. Willis Dashes at Life with Free Pencil iv. 172 Our capacity for delight plummeted.
1944 F. Leiber in Astounding Sci.-Fiction Apr. 173/2 ‘I'm glad to see the last of that fellow,’ he muttered,..as they plummeted toward the roof.
1953 A. Moorehead Rum Jungle vii. 96 They [sc. gulls] plummeted down with their beaks wide open.
1972 G. Durrell Catch me Colobus ix. 186 Great gouts of water plummeted down from the sky so that the road, which was an earth one, was immediately turned into a dangerous mire.
1978 D. Bloodworth Crosstalk xi. 91 Rumours that Mao's health is failing have sent the Hong Kong stock exchange plummeting.
1996 Independent 28 Feb. 8/8 With temperatures plummeting to below minus 40C, the Tibetan plateau has been stricken by the worst weather in years.
2015 M. Poland Keeper v. 47 The gannets, line on line screamed their homecoming, plummeting down to nest.
b. transitive. To cause to fall rapidly; to hurl down. Also figurative.
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the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > causing to come or go down > cause to come or go down [verb (transitive)] > throw down > headlong
adusta1250
precipitate1541
precipit1628
precipice1653
plummet1855
1855 B. Taylor Poems of Orient 155 Plummeted with all her sins, The Earth, down-sliding through the limpid sea, Bears far below, the noises of her broils.
1881 A. Austin Savonarola iv. iv. 256 He by dint of forcible wide arms Could dive to where she had been plummeted.
1933 Sun (Baltimore) 11 Apr. 1/1 The U.S.S. Akron had reports that the weather was unfavorable for her purpose when she took off last Monday on the fatal flight that plummeted her into the sea from lightning-swept skies.
1967 N. Podhoretz Making It ii. vi. 177 The life of an army recruit would have been difficult for me to bear..if I'd been plummeted from the condition of young-gentlemanhood I had enjoyed at Cambridge directly into the subhuman servitude..of the military trainee.
1980 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 13 Dec. ii. 46/1 The rope broke,..plummeting the two men to their deaths.
1994 Crit. Intelligence Oct. 12/1 The shock wave will blast people from their homes, rapidly plummet millions into poverty.
2011 R. Nixon Slow Violence & Environmentalism of Poor ii. 76 The deracinations of the oil age plummeted them into a rootlessness that was nomadism's opposite.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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