different between plummet vs skiffing

English

Etymology

From Middle English plommet (“ball of lead", "plumb of a bob-line”), recorded since 1382, from Old French plommet or plomet, the diminutive of plom, plum (“lead", "sounding lead”), from Latin plumbum (“lead”). The verb is first recorded in 1626, originally meaning “to fathom, take soundings", from the noun.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pl?m.?t/
• Rhymes: -?m?t

Noun

plummet (plural plummets)

1. (archaic) A piece of lead attached to a line, used in sounding the depth of water, a plumb bob or a plumb line
   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 3 scene 3

     I'll sink him deeper than e'er plummet sounded.

2. (archaic) Hence, any weight
   • 1945, Ernie Pyle, Here is Your War: Story of G.I. Joe, The World Publishing Company (1945), page #93:

     His parachute was shot half away, and if he'd jumped he would have fallen like a plummet.

3. (archaic) A piece of lead formerly used by school children to rule paper for writing (that is, to mark with rules, with lines)
4. A plummet line, a line with a plummet; a sounding line
5. Violent or dramatic fall
6. (figuratively) A decline; a fall; a drop

Translations

Verb

plummet (third-person singular simple present plummets, present participle plummeting or plummetting, simple past and past participle plummeted or plummetted)

1. (intransitive) To drop swiftly, in a direct manner; to fall quickly.

   After its ascent, the arrow plummeted to earth.

Synonyms

• (to drop swiftly): dive, drop, fall

Antonyms

• (to drop swiftly): ascend, rise, rocket, soar, skyrocket

Translations

See also

• plumb line
• plumb

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “plummet”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

English

Verb

skiffing

1. present participle of skiff