Middle English Dictionary Entry
plumet n.
Entry Info
| Forms | plumet n. Also plummet, plomet, plommet & plumbet. |
| Etymology | OF plomet |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) The lead weight at the end of a builder's plumb line or attached to an astrolabe; a plumb bob; a complete plumb rule; (b) the lead weight at the end of a mariner's sounding line; (c) ?a decorative knob or ball resembling a plummet; (d) a writing or drawing instrument made of lead.
Associated quotations
a
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)13b/a : Þey beþ I-seye haue trolles and honginge plomettes & mesures and towles.
- a1425(c1395) WBible(2) (Roy 1.C.8)Zech.1.16 : Myn hous schal be bildid in it..and a plomet [WB(1): an hangynge lyne; L perpendiculum] schal be streiȝt out on Jerusalem.
- (1444) in Salzman Building in Engl.339 : 19 plomettes of lead.
- a1450(1391) Chaucer Astr.(Benson-Robinson)2.23.42 : Thou must have a plomet hangyng on a lyne, heygher than thin heved.
- a1500 Gloss Dict.Garland (Hrl 1002)137 : Perpendiculo ponderoso [glossed:] plomet hevy.
- ?a1500 Trin-C.LEDict.Suppl.(Trin-C O.5.4)602/19 : Perpendiculum: a plumet.
b
- (c1384) WBible(1) (Dc 369(2))Deeds 27.28 : The whiche sendinge doun a plomet, founden twenty pasis of depnesse.
c
- (1452-3) Invent.Norwich in Nrf.Archaeol.12214 : Item, vj plumbetts rotundi inclusi corio..Item, v plumbetts longi super altare.
- (1452-3) Invent.Norwich in Nrf.Archaeol.12220 : Item, v plumbetts rotunde..Item, v plumbetts longa quorum quodlibet ponderis iij librarum.
- (1456) Let.Bk.Lond.K (Gldh LetBk K)379 : Chalis cup gilt, chast with plummetes.
d
- (?1440) Palladius (DukeH d.2)2.482 : My lord biholdith on his book; ffor sothe al nought, he gynnyth crossis make With a plummet.
- a1500 in Singer Cat.Alchem.2.619 : All that thu dyde portryde with thi plumet or with thi blakepene.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- ?c1500 Hrl.2252 Artist.Recipes (Hrl 2252) 73/19 : Fyrste thow shalte haue a plumbet of leade and drawe thy letters, and after þi wynnettes.
- ?c1500 Hrl.2252 Artist.Recipes (Hrl 2252) 79/30 : Fyrste drawe þi worke with a plomet of lede, and then with blacke ynke.
- a1500 Hrl.3151 Limn.Recipes (Hrl 3151) 231/23 : First thow shall with a plumet trace thi lettren.
Note: Additional quotes, sense (d).