Plimsoll
//ˈplɪmsoʊl// name, noun
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A rubber-soled lace-up canvas shoe for sports or onboard ships; a precursor of trainers. Ireland, UK
"“Yes, there are two distinct sets of footprints, both wearing rubber shoes—one I think ordinary plimsolls, the other goloshes,” replied the sergeant."
- 2 a light gym shoe with a rubber sole and a canvas top wordnet
- 3 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.
- 4 waterlines to show the level the water should reach when the ship is properly loaded wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"“Yes, there are two distinct sets of footprints, both wearing rubber shoes—one I think ordinary plimsolls, the other goloshes,” replied the sergeant."
Etymology
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.
Related phrases
More for "plimsoll"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.