plumb
To put in or fix water pipes in a building.
To install, connect, or repair the pipes and fittings that carry water, gas, or waste in a building.
Perfectly straight up and down.
Exactly vertical; perfectly upright and aligned with gravity.
To try to understand something very deeply.
To explore or understand something thoroughly, especially something complex or hidden.
To measure how deep water is.
To measure the depth of water, traditionally by lowering a weighted line until it reaches the bottom.
A tool weight used to check what is straight up and down.
A weight, usually metal, hung from a string and used to show a true vertical line.
Exactly or directly (in a position).
Directly or exactly; in the precise position or direction mentioned.
Completely (used to make an adjective stronger).
Completely or entirely, used as an intensifier (often in informal or regional speech).
- Base: plumb
- Base: plumb
- Plural: plumbs
- Base: plumb
- 3rd Person Singular: plumbs
- Present Participle: plumbing
- Past: plumbed
out of plumb
1not vertical or straight
Not straight up and down.
- The door frame is out of plumb, so the door keeps rubbing.
- If the posts are out of plumb, the whole fence will look crooked.
- The installer fixed the cabinet after noticing it was out of plumb.
- The wall is out of plumb.
plumb in
1connect to water or drains
To connect something to the water pipes.
- We had the dishwasher plumbed in under the counter.
- The contractor will plumb in the new sink tomorrow.
- Is the fridge plumbed in for the ice maker?
- They plumbed in the washing machine.
plumb line
1string used to check vertical
A string and weight used to check if something is vertical.
- He used a plumb line to align the corner posts.
- A plumb line is a simple way to find true vertical.
- Drop a plumb line from the ceiling and mark where it lands.
plumb the depths (of something)
1explore the deepest parts
To try to understand something in the deepest way.
- Her memoir plumbs the depths of grief after a loss.
- The documentary plumbs the depths of political corruption.
- Few novels plumb the depths of loneliness like this one.