plummet
/ˈplʌmət/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.85 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A piece of lead attached to a line, used in sounding the depth of water; a plumb bob or a plumb line.
Archaic
Example Sentences
- "I'le ſeeke him deeper than ere plummet ſounded, / And with him there lye mudded."
- "Iudgement also will I lay to the line, and righteousnesse to the plummet: and the haile shall sweepe away the refuge of lyes, and the waters shall ouerflow the hiding place."
- "Each long black hair upon his head hung down as straight as any plummet line; […]"
- "And love was the plummet dropped down into the deeps of him where like had never gone."
- "He told her then of his life since he had returned to the jungle—of how he had dropped like a plummet from a civilized Parisian to a savage Waziri warrior, and from there back to the brute that he had been raised."
- "His parachute was shot half away, and if he'd jumped he would have fallen like a plummet."
Etymology
From Middle English plommet (“ball of lead, plumb of a bob-line”), recorded since 1382, from Old French plommet or plomet, the diminutive of plom, plum (“lead, sounding lead”), from Latin plumbum (“lead”). The verb is first recorded in 1626, originally meaning “to fathom, take soundings", from the noun.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈplʌmət/
- British English: /ˈplʌmɪt/