Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Lead.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Chem.) The technical name of lead. See
lead .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word plumbum.
Examples
-
The word plumbing came from the Latin word plumbum which means lead.
EzineArticles 2010
-
I admit that those of us who grew up in an age where smelting lead was an integral part of development can be much amused by the fashionable attacks on the old plumbum.
John Terry’s sacking as England captain tells us something interesting... 2009
-
A soft, heavy metal that has been used since antiquity (the word "plumbing" comes from the Latin word for lead, plumbum), lead had its heyday in the USA from the 1920s to the 1970s.
-
The English words plumber and plumbing are derived from the Latin word for lead, plumbum.
Lead 2008
-
Quod fugat obtusum est, et habet sub arundine plumbum ...
-
A Plummer, i.e. a man who worked in lead, Lat. plumbum, is now written, by etymological reaction, plumber, though the restored letter is not sounded.
The Romance of Names Ernest Weekley 1909
-
This was, unquestionably, not the harmless plumbago to which that name is now usually given, but galena, or _plumbum nigrum_, a native sulphuret of lead, probably used for a glaze by the potters of Charlestown.
-
* Intellectui non plumæ, sed plumbum addendum et pondera: [306] 1
-
‘Intellectui non plumæ, sed plumbum addendum et pondera,’ (Bacon, Nov. Or., i. 104,) might be its device.
-
This species is known from the Tapajós River drainage and is named after its dark midlateral stripe (Latin plumbum = lead). paper: Sousa, LM, AL Netto-Ferreira and JLO Birindelli (2010) Two new species of Moenkhausia
ry commented on the word plumbum
seeing this word caused the phrase plumbum oscillans to dredge itself up from the back of some rattling, rusted file cabinet of my brain. at first i could not remember a thing about it.
May 10, 2013
ruzuzu commented on the word plumbum
It makes me think of crumb bum (which makes me think of yarb).
May 13, 2013
ruzuzu commented on the word plumbum
Also:
"Historically, graphite was called black lead and plumbago.
Plumbago was commonly used in its massive mineral form. Both of these names arise from confusion with the similar-appearing lead ores, particularly galena. The Latin word for lead is plumbum, which gave its name to both the English term for this grey metallic-sheened mineral and even the leadworts or plumbagos, plants with flowers that resemble this colour."
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Graphite&oldid=554936861
May 13, 2013