1. A usually conical metal weight attached to the end of a plumb line or the metal bob of a plumb line.
2. Something that weighs down or oppresses; a burden.

1. To drop sharply, steeply, and suddenly downward; especially, from a very high place: The acrobat slipped and quickly plummeted into the net below.

The car swerved and was seen plummeting to the bottom of the deep canyon.

2. To decline suddenly and steeply: The weather forecaster said the temperature would plummet to a much lower temperature tomorrow.
3. To experience a sudden unexpected decrease in something; such as, value or price: Henry noticed that his stock prices plummeted in value after the bad economic news was presented on TV.
4. To suddenly become pessimistic or to decline suddenly; especially, from a state of optimism to one of pessimism: Pete's expectations of getting a good job after all of the training that he did is plummeting because he has not been able to find employment for over a month.
5. Etymology: "ball of lead"; from plumb which came from Latin plumbum, "lead" via Old French plombe. © ALL rights are reserved.

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