Both Uses of
plummet
in
In the Unlikely Event
- DEC. 17—Elizabeth, long fearful because of its proximity to Newark Airport, gained a permanent listing in the annals of aviation tragedy at 3:09 o'clock yesterday afternoon when a two-engined non-scheduled airliner plummeted in flames into the east bank of the Elizabeth River, only seven minutes after its takeoff.†
p. 69.3 *
- But another official, speaking off the record, speculated that the pilot might have tried to pull the plane upward in a desperate effort to redirect the crash away from Battin High School, leading to a stall, which caused it to plummet directly to earth.†
p. 224.7
Definitions:
-
(1)
(plummet) fall or decrease suddenly
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, plummet can reference the metal weight of a plumb line. (A plumb line is a cord from which a metal weight is suspended to indicate a straight line downward, or to measure depth.)