Word of the Week (March 28 - April 5): plim

plim v Cp EDD ~ v2 'to swell out' esp s w cties.

1 To expand or swell from absorption of liquid.

1920 WALDO 160 A man who ate hard bread and drank water said 'it plimmed up inside and nearly killed me.' T 75/7-64 He fulled an oval boiler with rice, cover on the stove, and it began to plim. T 194/5-65 We had a half bag of bread down there. He was plimmed so tight as he could plim. P 148-65 During the thaw, a gravel road is soft. It plims up, then goes down.

1979 POCIUS 36 One woman described how she boiled a particular brin bag with coarse mesh to make the strands 'plim right together' in order to use it for a mat.

2 Of a boat, cask or barrel, to absorb water so as to become watertight.

[c1900] 1978 RLS 8, p. 25 A vessel's or boat's planks when [they are] drawn apart by heat [are] then put in the water to plim or swell and close up.

1920 GRENFELL & SPALDING 151 When a boat is not 'plymmed,' it leaks in all its seams.

1937 DEVINE 37 ~ To make a barrel or keg tight by filling it with water or standing it in running water to soak. P 99-69 The boat plimmed up as soon as she went in the water.

1981 Evening Telegram 4 July, p. 18 He left [his boat in the pond] for a few days to 'plim up'. . prior to a fishing trip.

Dictionary of Newfoundland English Supplement

plim v

1 [1900] 1989 Nfld Qtly lxxxv (2), 27 Previously, between the two layers of boards, some bags of hard bread were dumped. When water touched the bread it 'plimmed'--swelled up. Soon a most satisfactory watertight job was achieved.

1984 POWELL 124-5 There was no way that any animal could eat [the mouldy and fousty hay]. It was still plimming and bursting the wire that tied it.

2 1988 Evening Telegram 2 June, p. 13 We pour the Stockholm tar over frayed or shredded hemp to make what all seagoing people refer to as oakum, which is used with a special chisel to caulk the seams between a boat's planks. Then, when the boat is launched into the water, the planks swell or 'plim' against the oakum and the boat can become as watertight as a bottle.

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