plimsoll

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See also: Plimsoll

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Samuel Plimsoll, a Bristol merchant.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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plimsoll (plural plimsolls)

  1. (UK, Ireland) A rubber-soled lace-up canvas shoe for sports or onboard ships; a precursor of trainers.
    • 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 13, in Well Tackled![1]:
      “Yes, there are two distinct sets of footprints, both wearing rubber shoes—one I think ordinary plimsolls, the other goloshes,” replied the sergeant.
    • 2022, Ian McEwan, Lessons, page 8:
      While here, now, a large boy, a famous bully, swaggered to the front to bend, leering, and offer his satirical backside to be ineffectually beaten with a plimsoll by the gentle Scot.
  2. The plimsoll symbol ⦵ (or o) that is used as a superscript in the notation of thermodynamics to indicate an arbitrarily chosen non-zero reference point.

Synonyms

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Translations

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