plumbing
pronunciation
How to pronounce plumbing in British English:
UK [ˈplʌmɪŋ]
How to pronounce plumbing in American English:
US [ˈplʌmɪŋ]
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- Noun:
- utility consisting of the pipes and fixtures for the distribution of water or gas in a building and for the disposal of sewage
- the occupation of a plumber (installing and repairing pipes and fixtures for water or gas or sewage in a building)
- measuring the depths of the oceans
Word Origin
- plumbing (n.)
- 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. THE 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] Alternative plumbery also is mid-15c. Slang meaning "a person's reproductive organs" attested by 1975.
Example
- 1. Almost half have no indoor plumbing .
- 2. Only once could outhouses be replaced by running water and indoor plumbing .
- 3. Chinese courtyard houses traditionally didn 't have plumbing , so public bathhouses and toilets dotted the city .
- 4. But in china , substandard plumbing and overloaded city sewers can make all that performance feel wasted .
- 5. Customers don 't understand plumbing , so you try to explain that you 're not ripping them off .