plumb

Universal Words verb, adverb verb [VN] (literary) to try to understand or succeed in understanding sth mysterious SYNFATHOM: She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. * He had clearly plumbed the general sense of the message. IDIOMS plumb the depths of sth to be or to experience an extreme example of sth unpleasant: His latest novel plumbs the depths of horror and violence. * It was at that stage in her life when she plumbed the depths of despair. * The team's poor performances plumbed new depths last night when they lost 10-2. PHRASALVERBS plumb sth<->in (especially BrE) to connect a WASHINGMACHINE, toilet, etc. to the water supply in a building adverb 1 (used before prepositions) exactly: He was standing plumb in the middle of the road. 2 (old-fashioned, AmE, informal) completely: He's plumb crazy.