plumbers

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of plumber.

   Several plumbers submitted bids for the bathroom renovation.

   Licensed plumbers must follow strict local codes for drainage.

   Note

   An ordinary -s plural, and it carries every meaning the singular has, not only the trade. Plumbers were once workers in lead, a use now dated. Plumbers can also be people who trace or stop leaks of information, and in informal British usage, Royal Navy apprentices trained to become artificers. The same spelling also serves as the present-tense verb, so the noun and verb meet in one word.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of plumber. The verb is rare.

   Note

   A rare verb form, and a slippery one. In US slang, he plumbers the job means he botches it. In informal use, the same words can mean he does the plumbing on it or fits it with pipes. Because the verb is uncommon and these readings pull in opposite directions, context has to settle which is meant. Nearly every reading takes a direct object, as in she plumbers the addition.

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