different between tumble vs plummet

English

Etymology

From Middle English tumblen (“to fall over and over again, tumble”), frequentative of Middle English tumben (“to fall, leap, dance”), from Old English tumbian, from Proto-Germanic *t?m?n? (“to turn, rotate”). Cognate with Middle Dutch tumelen (whence Dutch tuimelen); Middle Low German tumelen, tummelen; and German taumeln.

Pronunciation

• enPR: t?m?b?l, IPA^(key): /?t?mbl?/
• Rhymes: -?mb?l
• Hyphenation: tum?ble

Noun

tumble (plural tumbles)

1. A fall, especially end over end.

   I took a tumble down the stairs and broke my tooth.

2. A disorderly heap.
   • 2008, David Joutras, A Ghost in the World (page 55)

     When at last we stopped in a tumble of bodies on the grass, laughing, and in Dad's case, out of breath, we were like little kids (I mean 5 or 6! After all I am 12!) at the end of a playground session.

3. (informal) An act of sexual intercourse.
   • 1940, John Betjeman, Group Life: Letchworth

     Wouldn't it be jolly now, / To take our Aertex panters off / And have a jolly tumble in / The jolly, jolly sun?

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

tumble (third-person singular simple present tumbles, present participle tumbling, simple past and past participle tumbled)

1. (intransitive) To fall end over end; to roll over and over.

   • He who tumbles from a tower surely has a greater blow than he who slides from a molehill.

   • 1907, Robert W. Chambers, The Younger Set

     “Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better. […]”
2. (intransitive) To perform gymnastics such as somersaults, rolls, and handsprings.
3. (intransitive) To drop rapidly.

4. (transitive) To smoothe and polish, e.g., gemstones or pebbles, by means of a rotating tumbler.
5. (intransitive, informal) To have sexual intercourse.
6. (intransitive) To move or rush in a headlong or uncontrolled way.
7. To muss, to make disorderly; to tousle or rumple.

8. (cryptocurrencies) To obscure the audit trail of funds by means of a tumbler.
9. (obsolete, Britain, slang) To comprehend; often in tumble to.
   • 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor

     Speaking of this language, a costermonger said to me: "The Irish can't tumble to it anyhow; the Jews can tumble better, but we're their masters. Some of the young salesmen at Billingsgate understand us, — but only at Billingsgate; […]

Synonyms

• (to have sexual intercourse): bump uglies, have sex, roll around; see also Thesaurus:copulate
• (to make disorderly): mess up, touse

Derived terms

• tumble on
• tumble to

Translations

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