Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The pipes, fixtures, and other apparatus of a water, gas, or sewage system in a building.
- n. The work or trade of a plumber.
- n. Informal An arrangement of bodily vessels or ducts: "treating stroke victims by reversing the plumbing of the body's circulatory system” ( Associated Press).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The art of casting and working in lead (also, by extension, in other metals put to similar uses), and applying it to various purposes connected with buildings, as in roofs, windows, pipes, etc.
- n. The act or process of ascertaining the depth of anything.
- n. Lead pipes and other apparatus used for conveying water or other liquids through a building.
Wiktionary
- n. uncountable The pipes, together with the joints, tanks, stopcocks, taps and other fixtures of a water, gas or sewage system in a house or other building.
- n. uncountable The trade or occupation of a plumber.
- n. uncountable, informal A system of vessels or ducts in the human body, especially the genitourinary system.
- n. countable A Murasugi sum where each disk summed along has its boundary subdivided into four segments.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The art of casting and working in lead, and applying it to building purposes; especially, the business of furnishing, fitting, and repairing pipes for conducting water, sewage, etc.
- n. The lead or iron pipes, and other apparatus, used in conveying water, sewage, etc., in a building.
WordNet 3.0
- n. measuring the depths of the oceans
- n. utility consisting of the pipes and fixtures for the distribution of water or gas in a building and for the disposal of sewage
- n. the occupation of a plumber (installing and repairing pipes and fixtures for water or gas or sewage in a building)
Examples
“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 society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity, and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because philosophy is an exalted activity, will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy.”
“The word plumbing came from the Latin word plumbum which means lead.”
“They're not gung-ho to leave their condos in Boca to go back to the homeland where the plumbing is a bucket and a walk-to biffy.”
“Either way, Glocer argued that terminals "are only part of the story" and that the company is doing more business in what he called plumbing for the enterprise: "The data feeds that come into the basement at 85 Broad st".”
“Keep in mind what you are able to do and the amount of time that you have to do it and remind him that some jobs, such as plumbing, is something that he needs to hire a professional to do.”
“The plumbing is designed such that the water creates a jet suction action.”
Coyote Blog » Blog Archive » All Our Shower Heads In My House Have Been Hacked
“Edison didn't invent the light bulb -- he invented one * type* of light bulb. the bulb had been already invented. indoor plumbing is over 2000 years old. electricity came along long before Ben Franklin and gang -- it just didn't get used much. and so on. perhaps the biggest mistake people make is to equate "invention" with "progress" or "improvement".”
“Bookboxed – I absolutely agree – ALL rooms should have such a feature, to make up for the draughts and the uncertain plumbing and all the disadvantages of 400 years worth of history!”
“Like many monopoly wired phone companies, monopoly cable companies seem to be having a hard time understanding that Internet plumbing is the future of their business.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘plumbing’.
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TECH - metals and alloys
toughness, furnace, vibration, bronze, modulus, tubing, flow, zinc, melting, porta, embrittle, wetting and 262 more...
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Construction Zone
Help me build a list of things you'd find in a construction zone or at a construction site.
rebar, lumber, cement, plywood, hard hat, hammer, nails, nail gun, insulation, electrical wiring, wood, crane and 62 more...
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some-ing
king, offering, blessing, coping, earnings, trappings, breeding, during, offing, refreshing, sitting, outing and 208 more...
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The things they carried (List 2)
Listening to this as an audio book for the second time. Tim O'Brien uses simple words and phrases to great effect. Very few unfamilar and big words . The writing style reminds me of words from Joh...
The, Things, They, Carried, meant, fond, By necessity,, presented to him, far beyond, against the brick..., reaching, taut and 2940 more...
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Probe~ation
An obnoxious and ridiculous madlib list where verbish '-ing' words fill in the blank wherein the blank is a call for a beating.
For example:
"You're ________in' for a brus...searching, looking, hunting, seeking, questing, exploring, asking, inquiring, snooping, poking, probing, scouting and 262 more...
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TT3 Lesson 33
dig, bury, detective, mystery, solve, vegetable, veggies, Sherlock Holmes, horn, grumble, crazy, pizzeria and 4 more...
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TN9 Lesson 105
dig, backyard, bury, detective, mystery, solve, vegetable garden, plant, Sherlock Holmes, honk, complain, to drive someone ... and 10 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for plumbing.
leaden I can’t believe I didn’t know the word plumbum. I might have to change my nom de plumb again. May 9, 2013
ruzuzu "Pipe is made in many materials including ceramic, fiberglass, many metals, concrete and plastic. In the past, wood and lead (Latin plumbum, from which comes the word 'plumbing') were commonly used."
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pipe_(fluid_conveyance)&oldid=552694106 May 8, 2013
bilby Diapers might be cheaper. Aug 23, 2011
GHibbs My adjectival use: 'I need some plumbing work done.' Aug 23, 2011