WikiWord

English

plimsoll

/ˈplɪmsoʊl/ · noun

Meaning

  1. A rubber-soled lace-up canvas shoe for sports or onboard ships; a precursor of trainers.
  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.
  3. A surname.

Etymology / origin

From Samuel Plimsoll, a Bristol merchant who created a system of marks and symbols for the waterline of ships. The shoe was possibly named because the line of its sole resembled the Plimsoll line of ship.

Sources

No citations have been attached yet.