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Definition of plummet - 4 dictionary results

plum⋅met

  [pluhm-it]
Use plummet in a Sentence
–noun
1. Also called plumb bob. a piece of lead or some other weight attached to a line, used for determining perpendicularity, for sounding, etc.; the bob of a plumb line.
2. something that weighs down or depresses.
–verb (used without object)
3. to plunge.
Origin:
1350–1400; (n.) ME plommet < MF, dim. of plomb lead; (v.) deriv. of the n. See plumb, -et

Synonyms:
3. fall, dive, drop, swoop.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To plummet
plumb bob  
n.  A usually conical metal weight attached to the end of a plumb line. Also called plummet.
plum·met   (plŭm'ĭt)   
n.  

  1. See plumb bob.

  2. Something that weighs down or oppresses; a burden.

intr.v.   plum·met·ed, plum·met·ing, plum·mets

  1. To fall straight down; plunge.

  2. To decline suddenly and steeply: Stock prices plummeted.


[Middle English plomet, from Old French, ball of lead, diminutive of plom, plomb, sounding lead, from Latin plumbum.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

plummet  (n.)
1382, "ball of lead, plumb of a bob-line," from O.Fr. plomet, dim. of plom "sounding lead" (see plumb). The verb is first recorded 1626, originally "to fathom, take soundings," from the noun. Meaning "to fall rapidly" first recorded 1939.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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