PLUMB LINE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Plumb line

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/pləm laɪn/ Listen

noun

Plumb n. A little mass or weight of lead, or the like, attached to a line, and used by builders, etc., to indicate a vertical direction; a plummet; a plumb bob. See Plumb line, below.

Plumb bob. See Bob, 4.

Plumb joint, in sheet-metal work, a lap joint, fastened by solder.

Plumb level. See under Level.

Plumb line.

(a)

The cord by which a plumb bob is suspended; a plummet.

(b)

A line directed to the center of gravity of the earth.

Plumb rule, a narrow board with a plumb line, used by builders and carpenters.

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Etymology of 'Plumb line'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Plumb line" Quotes from Famous Books

... N. verticality; erectness &c. adj.; perpendicularity &c. 216a; right angle, normal; azimuth circle. wall, precipice, cliff. elevation, erection; square, plumb line, plummet. V. be vertical &c. adj.; stand up, stand on end, stand erect, stand upright; stick up, cock up. render vertical &c. adj.; set up, stick up, raise up, cock up; erect, rear, raise on its legs. Adj. vertical, upright, erect, ...

— Roget's Thesaurus

... of amateur carpenter tools. You do not need to say that you are an amateur. The dealer will find that out when you ask him for an easy-running broad-ax or a green-gage plumb line. He will sell you a set of amateur's tools that will be made of old sheet-iron with basswood handles, and the saws will double up like ...

— Remarks • Bill Nye

... that the eye and hand need such guides shows how untrustworthy the senses are. A similar argument occurs in Luc. 86. Perpendiculum is a plumb line, norma a mason's square, the word being probably a corruption of the Greek [Greek: gnomon] (Curt. Grundz p. 169, ...

— Academica • Marcus Tullius Cicero

... sprawling in the gutter. An old woman came out of nowhere; he heard her uncertain steps before he saw her as she approached him; the wide pavement the moment before had been entirely deserted. She walked as though she had no definite destination, not straight ahead in a plumb line. She had an old-fashioned bonnet with dangles on her head and a straw basket over one arm. Somehow he thought of his aunt Lorry. She came peering up at him from under her lashes. She seemed drawn by the brightness of the car. And her dim eyes seemed searching in the shadow of the top for a definite ...

— Stubble • George Looms

... plumb line. Girl, you're a wonder. Took me four months to learn to read the card; then I didn't have it down as fine as you have. Will you ...

— The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea - Or The Loss of The Lonesome Bar • Janet Aldridge