Literary notes about Plumb (AI summary)
In literature, "plumb" is a versatile term whose usage spans literal measurements, intensification in descriptive language, and symbolic representation. Often, it appears as an adjective suggesting exactness or completeness—portraying objects or states as perfectly vertical or utterly in a condition, as when a structure is rendered "plumb" in its alignment ([1], [2]). In narrative prose, the word also functions as an intensifier to stress totality or extremity, whether in denoting the absolute nature of beauty or the profound depth of human emotions ([3], [4]). Moreover, "plumb" serves a technical role in contexts like navigation and construction, referring to measuring depth or ensuring vertical precision, such as with a plumb-line ([5], [6]). Finally, its symbolic use connects physical correctness with moral rectitude, reflecting ideals that resonate, for instance, in Masonic imagery ([7], [8]).
- Repeat the process now with the other sides, then the two ends, etc., always keeping the line of the corner plumb.
— from Boy Scouts Handbook by Boy Scouts of America - vertical, upright, erect, perpendicular, plumb, normal, straight, bolt, upright; rampant; standing up &c. v.; rectangular, orthogonal &c. 216a.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget - The fruition of beauty is no chance of miss or hit—it is as inevitable as life—it is exact and plumb as gravitation.
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - “Well, you see, I’d got a sort of tired feeling that I’d never find Jane—and that it was all plumb foolishness anyway.
— from The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie - Laying guns with the help of the plumb-line and quadrant; plunging fire, rectification of the aim.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Herbert carried a plumb-line which Harding had given him, that is to say, a simple stone fastened to the end of a flexible fiber.
— from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne - The physical qualities of the plumb are here compared or contrasted with the moral conception of virtue, or rectitude.
— from The symbolism of Freemasonry : by Albert Gallatin Mackey - Thus we say that the plumb is a symbol of rectitude of conduct.
— from The symbolism of Freemasonry : by Albert Gallatin Mackey