Plumb vs. Lead — What's the Difference?

A measure of vertical alignment or depth.

A dense, malleable, soft gray metal.

Plumb line or bob.

Found in batteries, paints, and shielding.

Essential for ensuring structures are level.

Often denotes a leading or guiding role.

Generally safe and straightforward in use.

Its use is highly regulated in many countries.

Signifying thorough understanding.

Known to be toxic, especially to children.

Measure (the depth of a body of water)

Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin plumbum) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials.

Test (an upright surface) to determine the vertical

Cause (a person or animal) to go with one by holding them by the hand, a halter, a rope, etc. while moving forward

Install an appliance such as a bath, toilet, or washing machine and connect to water and drainage pipes

Be a route or means of access to a particular place or in a particular direction

A ball of lead or other heavy object attached to the end of a line for finding the depth of water or determining the vertical on an upright surface.

Be in charge or command of

Exactly

Have the advantage over competitors in a race or game

Vertically

Have or experience (a particular way of life)

Vertical

The initiative in an action; an example for others to follow

A weight on the end of a line, used to determine water depth.

A position of advantage in a contest; first place

A weight on the end of a line, used especially by masons and carpenters to establish a true vertical.

The chief part in a play or film

In a vertical or perpendicular line.

A strap or cord for restraining and guiding a dog or other domestic animal

(Informal) Directly; squarely

A wire that conveys electric current from a source to an appliance, or that connects two points of a circuit together.

Also plum(Informal) Utterly; completely

The distance advanced by a screw in one turn.

Exactly vertical.

An artificial watercourse leading to a mill.

Also plum(Informal) Utter; absolute; sheer

A soft, heavy, ductile bluish-grey metal, the chemical element of atomic number 82. It has been used in roofing, plumbing, ammunition, storage batteries, radiation shields, etc., and its compounds have been used in crystal glass, as an anti-knock agent in petrol, and (formerly) in paints.

To determine the depth of with a plumb; sound.

An item or implement made of lead.

To test the verticality or alignment of with a plumb.

Graphite used as the part of a pencil that makes a mark

To straighten or make perpendicular

A blank space between lines of print.

To examine closely or deeply; probe

To show the way to by going in advance

To seal with lead.

To guide or direct in a course

To outfit with or connect to a plumbing system

To serve as a route for; take

To work as a plumber.

To be a channel or conduit for (water or electricity, for example).

Truly vertical, as indicated by a plumb line.

To guide the behavior or opinion of; induce

(cricket) Describing an LBW where the batsman is hit on the pads directly in front of their wicket and should be given out.

To direct the performance or activities of

In a vertical direction; perpendicularly.

To inspire the conduct of

(informal) Squarely, directly; deeply, completely.

To play a principal or guiding role in

A little mass of lead, or the like, attached to a line, and used by builders, etc., to indicate a vertical direction.

To go or be at the head of

(nautical) A weight on the end of a long line, used by sailors to determine the depth of water.

To be ahead of

The perpendicular direction or position.

To be foremost in or among

To determine the depth, generally of a liquid; to sound.

To pass or go through; live

To attach to a water supply and drain.

To begin or open with, as in games

To think about or explore in depth, to get to the bottom of, especially to plumb the depths of.

To guide (a partner) in dancing.

To use a plumb bob as a measuring or aligning tool.

To aim in front of (a moving target).

To accurately align vertically or horizontally.

(Sports) To pass a ball or puck ahead of (a moving teammate) so that the player can receive the pass without changing direction or losing speed.

(dated) To seal something with lead.

To be first; be ahead.

(intransitive) To work as a plumber.

To go first as a guide.

(rare) To fall or sink like a plummet.

To act as commander, director, or guide.

To trace a road or track; to follow it to its end.

To afford a passage, course, or route

(nautical) To position vertically above or below.

To tend toward a certain goal or result

A little mass or weight of lead, or the like, attached to a line, and used by builders, etc., to indicate a vertical direction; a plummet; a plumb bob. See Plumb line, below.

To make the initial play, as in a game or contest.

Perpendicular; vertical; conforming the direction of a line attached to a plumb; as, the wall is plumb.

To begin a presentation or account in a given way

In a plumb direction; perpendicularly.

To guide a dance partner.

To adjust by a plumb line; to cause to be perpendicular; as, to plumb a building or a wall.

To start a dance step on a specified foot.

To sound with a plumb or plummet, as the depth of water; hence, to examine by test; to ascertain the depth, quality, dimension, etc.; to sound; to fathom; to test.

(Baseball) To advance or stand a few paces away from one's base toward the next while the pitcher prepares to deliver a pitch. Used of a base runner.

To seal with lead; as, to plumb a drainpipe.

(Sports) To begin an attack in boxing with a specified hand or punch

To supply, as a building, with a system of plumbing.

To cover, line, weight, or fill with lead.

The metal bob of a plumb line

(Printing) To provide space between (lines of type) with leads.

Measure the depth of something

To secure (window glass) with leads.

Weight with lead

To treat with lead or a lead compound

Examine thoroughly and in great depth

The first or foremost position

Adjust with a plumb line so as to make vertical

One occupying such a position; a leader.

Exactly vertical;

The initiative

Completely; used as intensifiers;

The margin by which one holds a position of advantage or superiority

Conforming to the direction of a plumb line

Information pointing toward a possible solution; a clue

Exactly;

An indication of potential opportunity; a tip

Command; leadership

An example; a precedent

The principal role in a film, play, show, or other scripted production.

The person playing such a role.

The introductory portion of a news story, especially the first sentence.

An important, usually prominently displayed news story.

The first play.

The prerogative or turn to make the first play

A card played first in a round.

(Baseball) An amount of space that a base runner moves or stands away from one base in the direction of the next while the pitcher prepares to deliver a pitch.

(Sports) A blow in boxing that begins a series or exchange of punches.

A leash.

A deposit of gold ore in an old riverbed.

See lode.

(Electronics) A conductor by which one circuit element is electrically connected to another.

(Nautical) The direction in which a line runs.

The distance aimed in front of a moving target.

A channel of open water created by a break in a mass of ice.

Symbol Pb A soft, malleable, ductile, bluish-white, dense metallic element, extracted chiefly from galena and used in containers and pipes for corrosives, solder and type metal, bullets, radiation shielding, paints, glass, storage batteries, and antiknock compounds. Atomic number 82; atomic weight 207.2; melting point 327.5°C; boiling point 1,749°C; specific gravity 11.35; valence 2, 4. See Periodic Table.

Any of various, often graphitic compositions used as the writing substance in pencils.

A thin stick of such material.

Bullets from or for firearms; shot

A lead weight suspended by a line, used to make soundings.

(Printing) A thin strip of metal used to separate lines of type.

Strips of lead used to hold the panes of a window.

Chiefly British A flat roof covered with sheets of lead.

First or foremost

Most important

(uncountable) A heavy, pliable, inelastic metal element, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished; both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity. It is easily fusible, forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic number 82, symbol Pb (from Latin plumbum).

A plummet or mass of lead attached to a line, used in sounding depth at sea or (dated) to estimate velocity in knots.

A thin strip of type metal, used to separate lines of type in printing.

Vertical space in advance of a row or between rows of text. Also known as leading.

Sheets or plates of lead used as a covering for roofs.

(plural leads) A roof covered with lead sheets or terne plates.

(countable) A thin cylinder of graphite used in pencils. Category:en:Carbon

(slang) bullets; ammunition.

(countable) The act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction, course

(countable) Precedence; advance position; also, the measure of precedence; the state of being ahead in a race; the highest score in a game in an incomplete game.

An insulated metallic wire for electrical devices and equipment.

(baseball) The situation where a runner steps away from a base while waiting for the pitch to be thrown.

The act or right of playing first in a game or round; the card suit, or piece, so played

The main role in a play or film; the lead role.

(acting) The actor who plays the main role; lead actor.

(business) The person in charge of a project or a work shift etc.

(countable) A channel of open water in an ice field.

A lode.

(nautical) The course of a rope from end to end.

A rope, leather strap, or similar device with which to lead an animal; a leash

In a steam engine, the width of port opening which is uncovered by the valve, for the admission or release of steam, at the instant when the piston is at end of its stroke.

(civil engineering) The distance of haul, as from a cutting to an embankment.

(horology) The action of a tooth, such as a tooth of a wheel, in impelling another tooth or a pallet.

Information obtained by a detective or police officer that allows him or her to discover further details about a crime or incident.

(marketing) Potential opportunity for a sale or transaction, a potential customer.

Information obtained by a news reporter about an issue or subject that allows him or her to discover more details.

(curling) The player who throws the first two rocks for a team.

(newspapers) A teaser; a lead-in; the start of a newspaper column, telling who, what, when, where, why and how. (Sometimes spelled as lede for this usage to avoid ambiguity.)

An important news story that appears on the front page of a newspaper or at the beginning of a news broadcast

(engineering) The axial distance a screw thread travels in one revolution. It is equal to the pitch times the number of starts.

(music) In a barbershop quartet, the person who sings the melody, usually the second tenor

(music) The announcement by one voice part of a theme to be repeated by the other parts.

(music) A mark or a short passage in one voice part, as of a canon, serving as a cue for the entrance of others.

(engineering) The excess above a right angle in the angle between two consecutive cranks, as of a compound engine, on the same shaft.

(electrical) The angle between the line joining the brushes of a continuous-current dynamo and the diameter symmetrical between the poles.

(electrical) The advance of the current phase in an alternating circuit beyond that of the electromotive force producing it.

(transitive) To cover, fill, or affect with lead.

To place leads between the lines of.

To guide or conduct.

To guide or conduct with the hand, or by means of some physical contact connection.

To guide or conduct in a certain course, or to a certain place or end, by making the way known; to show the way, especially by going with or going in advance of, to lead a pupil; to guide somebody somewhere or to bring somebody somewhere by means of instructions.

(figuratively): To direct; to counsel; to instruct

To conduct or direct with authority; to have direction or charge of; to command, especially a military or business unit.

To guide or conduct oneself in, through, or along (a certain course); hence, to proceed in the way of; to follow the path or course of; to pass; to spend. Also, to cause (one) to proceed or follow in (a certain course).

(intransitive) To guide or conduct, as by accompanying, going before, showing, influencing, directing with authority, etc.; to have precedence or preeminence; to be first or chief; — used in most of the senses of the transitive verb.

(heading) To begin, to be ahead.

(transitive) To go or to be in advance of; to precede; hence, to be foremost or chief among.

(intransitive) To lead off or out, to go first; to begin.

(intransitive) To be more advanced in technology or business than others.

(transitive) To draw or direct by influence, whether good or bad; to prevail on; to induce; to entice; to allure

(intransitive) To tend or reach in a certain direction, or to a certain place.

To produce (with to).

Misspelling of led

(transitive) To live or experience (a particular way of life).

(not comparable) Foremost.

Main, principal, primary, first, chief, foremost.

One of the elements, a heavy, pliable, inelastic metal, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished. It is both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity, and is used for tubes, sheets, bullets, etc. Its specific gravity is 11.37. It is easily fusible (melting point 327.5° C), forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic number 82. Atomic weight, 207.2. Symbol Pb (L. Plumbum). It is chiefly obtained from the mineral galena, lead sulphide.

An article made of lead or an alloy of lead

A small cylinder of black lead or graphite, used in pencils.

The act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction; as, to take the lead; to be under the lead of another.

Precedence; advance position; also, the measure of precedence; as, the white horse had the lead; a lead of a boat's length, or of half a second.

The act or right of playing first in a game or round; the card suit, or piece, so played; as, your partner has the lead.

An open way in an ice field.

A lode.

The course of a rope from end to end.

The width of port opening which is uncovered by the valve, for the admission or release of steam, at the instant when the piston is at end of its stroke.

The distance of haul, as from a cutting to an embankment.

The action of a tooth, as a tooth of a wheel, in impelling another tooth or a pallet.

The announcement by one voice part of a theme to be repeated by the other parts.

In an internal-combustion engine, the distance, measured in actual length of piston stroke or the corresponding angular displacement of the crank, of the piston from the end of the compression stroke when ignition takes place; - called in full lead of the ignition. When ignition takes place during the working stroke the corresponding distance from the commencement of the stroke is called negative lead.

The excess above a right angle in the angle between two consecutive cranks, as of a compound engine, on the same shaft.

In spiral screw threads, worm wheels, or the like, the amount of advance of any point in the spiral for a complete turn.

The angle between the line joining the brushes of a continuous-current dynamo and the diameter symmetrical between the poles.

A role for a leading man or leading woman; also, one who plays such a role.

The first story in a newspaper or broadcast news program.

An electrical conductor, typically as an insulated wire or cable, connecting an electrical device to another device or to a power source, such as a conductor conveying electricity from a dynamo.

The distance a runner on base advances from one base toward the next before the pitch; as, the long lead he usually takes tends to distract the pitchers.

To cover, fill, or affect with lead; as, continuous firing leads the grooves of a rifle.

To place leads between the lines of; as, to lead a page; leaded matter.

To guide or conduct with the hand, or by means of some physical contact or connection; as, a father leads a child; a jockey leads a horse with a halter; a dog leads a blind man.

To guide or conduct in a certain course, or to a certain place or end, by making the way known; to show the way, esp. by going with or going in advance of.

To go or to be in advance of; to precede; hence, to be foremost or chief among; as, the big sloop led the fleet of yachts; the Guards led the attack; Demosthenes leads the orators of all ages.

To draw or direct by influence, whether good or bad; to prevail on; to induce; to entice; to allure; as, to lead one to espouse a righteous cause.

To guide or conduct one's self in, through, or along (a certain course); hence, to proceed in the way of; to follow the path or course of; to pass; to spend. Also, to cause (one) to proceed or follow in (a certain course).

To begin a game, round, or trick, with; as, to lead trumps; the double five was led.

To tend or reach in a certain direction, or to a certain place; as, the path leads to the mill; gambling leads to other vices.

A soft heavy toxic malleable metallic element; bluish white when freshly cut but tarnishes readily to dull gray;

An advantage held by a competitor in a race;

Evidence pointing to a possible solution;

A position of leadership (especially in the phrase `take the lead');

The angle between the direction a gun is aimed and the position of a moving target (correcting for the flight time of the missile)

The introductory section of a story;

An actor who plays a principal role

(baseball) the position taken by a base runner preparing to advance to the next base;

An indication of potential opportunity;

A news story of major importance

The timing of ignition relative to the position of the piston in an internal-combustion engine

Restraint consisting of a rope (or light chain) used to restrain an animal

Thin strip of metal used to separate lines of type in printing

Mixture of graphite with clay in different degrees of hardness; the marking substance in a pencil

A jumper that consists of a short piece of wire;

The playing of a card to start a trick in bridge;

Take somebody somewhere;

Tend to or result in;

Travel in front of; go in advance of others;

Cause to undertake a certain action;

Stretch out over a distance, space, time, or scope; run or extend between two points or beyond a certain point;

Be in charge of;

Be ahead of others; be the first;

Be conducive to;

Lead, as in the performance of a composition;

Pass or spend;

Lead, extend, or afford access;

Move ahead (of others) in time or space

Cause something to pass or lead somewhere;

Preside over;

Yes, a plumb line or plumb bob is specifically used.

Plumb is used to measure the vertical alignment of structures or the depth of water.

Lead is toxic and can cause numerous health problems, particularly affecting the nervous system.

Its use has declined significantly due to health concerns and regulatory restrictions.

Historically, yes, as plumbing originally involved using lead pipes, and "plumb" refers to verticality, as in ensuring pipes are correctly aligned.

Safer materials, such as plastics and alternative metals, are used, especially where lead's properties are not essential.

In batteries, ammunition, radiation shields, and previously in paint and pipes.

Yes, modern electronic leveling tools offer alternatives to traditional plumb lines.

Yes, it can signify thorough exploration or understanding of a subject.

By using protective gear and following strict safety protocols during handling and removal.

Regulations typically limit lead in products and environments, especially where children are present.

Yes, lead is highly recyclable, often reclaimed from batteries and other products.

Precision ensures the structural integrity and safety of buildings.

"Plumb" refers to depth of knowledge or understanding, while "lead" involves guidance or being first.

It has led to more regulated use of lead and innovative, safer alternatives to traditional plumb line methods.