Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1500-1600
Origin: plumb 'metal weight on a plumb line' (13-21 centuries), from Old French plomb 'lead', from Latin plumbum

plumb

1 verb
     
plumb1 [transitive]
1

plumb the depths (of despair/misery/bad taste etc)

to feel an unpleasant emotion in a very extreme way, or to behave in a way that is extremely unpleasant or morally bad:
When his wife left him, Matt plumbed the very depths of despair.
That night they plumbed the depths of treachery and horror, and murdered the king as he slept.
2 to succeed in understanding something completely [= fathom]:
Psychologists try to plumb the deepest mysteries of the human psyche.

plumb something ↔ in

phrasal verb
DHT to connect a piece of equipment such as a washing machine to the water supply
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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