Crossword clues for plumbing
plumbing
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Plumb \Plumb\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plumbed (pl[u^]md); p. pr. & vb. n. Plumbing (pl[u^]m"[i^]ng).]
To adjust by a plumb line; to cause to be perpendicular; as, to plumb a building or a wall.
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To sound with a plumb or plummet, as the depth of water; hence, to examine by test; to ascertain the depth, quality, dimension, etc.; to sound; to fathom; to test.
He did not attempt to plumb his intellect.
--Ld. Lytton. To seal with lead; as, to plumb a drainpipe.
To supply, as a building, with a system of plumbing.
Plumbing \Plumb"ing\, 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.
--Gwilt.The lead or iron pipes, and other apparatus, used in conveying water, sewage, etc., in a building.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
mid-15c., "the weighting of a fishing line," verbal noun from plumb (v.). Specific meaning "water and drainage pipes" is recorded by 1875, American English.\n\nTHE apparatus by which the water from a reservoir is carried about over a building and delivered at points convenient for use, is called by the general name of plumbing. The word "plumbing" means lead-work; and it is used to signify this water apparatus of a house because the pipes of which it largely consists are usually made of lead.
[Edward Abbott, "Long Look House: A Book for Boys and Girls," Boston, 1877]
\nAlternative plumbery also is mid-15c. Slang meaning "a person's reproductive organs" attested by 1975.Wiktionary
n. 1 (context uncountable English) 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. 2 (context uncountable English) The trade or occupation of a plumber. 3 (context uncountable informal English) A system of vessels or ducts in the human body, especially the genitourinary system. 4 (context countable English) A Murasugi sum where each disk summed along has its boundary subdivided into four segments.
WordNet
n. utility consisting of the pipes and fixtures for the distribution of water or gas in a building and for the disposal of sewage [syn: plumbing system]
the occupation of a plumber (installing and repairing pipes and fixtures for water or gas or sewage in a building) [syn: plumbery]
measuring the depths of the oceans [syn: bathymetry]
Wikipedia
Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Heating and cooling, waste removal, and potable water delivery are among the most common uses for plumbing however plumbing's not limited to these applications. Plumbing utilizes pipes, valves, plumbing fixtures, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids. Trades that work with plumbing such as boilermakers, plumbers, and pipefitters are referred to the plumbing trade. In the Developed world plumbing infrastructure is critical for public health and sanitation.
The word derives from the Latin plumbum for lead, as the first effective pipes used in Roman era were lead pipes.
Usage examples of "plumbing".
The institute was a thoroughly modern and up-to-date facility, in keeping with the modern and up-to-date subjects taught within its walls: electricity and electronics, mechanics, plumbing, recycling and reclamation, construction, carpentry, accounting and bookkeeping, secretarial skills, data recording, computer programming and repair, cybernation maintenance, aeronautics, solar-cell construction, electrical generating, motion-picture projection, camera operation, audio recording, hydrogen-fusion operation, power broadcasting, electrical space propulsion, satellite construction and repair, telemetry, and many more.
To mask the sound of her voice, Fiamma reached forwards and turned on the hot tap which, being connected to the dodgy StregaSchloss plumbing, obliged with a cacophony of splutters and clanks before it disgorged a gout of peat-stained water,no Im not breaking up, its just my mud bath, she continued.
The Greeks invented automatic wine dispensers and water clocks controlled, like modern plumbing, by the feedback action of a float.
After them march the guilds and trades and trainbands with flying colours: coopers, bird fanciers, millwrights, newspaper canvassers, law scriveners, masseurs, vintners, trussmakers, chimneysweeps, lard refiners, tabinet and poplin weavers, farriers, Italian warehousemen, church decorators, bootjack manufacturers, undertakers, silk mercers, lapidaries, salesmasters, corkcutters, assessors of fire losses, dyers and cleaners, export bottlers, fellmongers, ticketwriters, heraldic seal engravers, horse repository hands, bullion brokers, cricket and archery outfitters, riddlemakers, egg and potato factors, hosiers and glovers, plumbing contractors.
In the predawn coolness, it was rather charming to listen to the first, fresh voices caroling out their wares: a soprano from the plumbing dealer gateward, a warbling tenor from the pottery shop closer at hand.
Inspector Gatton, for the assistance of his trained mind in plumbing these depths which defied my single efforts.
Lenny had graduated from high school and had gone directly into the family business, Stankovik and Sons, Plumbing and Heating.
John would ask questions, and plug Pauline in to record the screens and tape the discussions, and they would go through the equations and jab their fingers at the flow charts, and then stop for coffee and perhaps take it up to the crest, to pace the length of the greenhouse arguing vehemently about the human value in kilocalories of plumbing, opera, simulation programming and the like.