plimsoll
noun/ˈplɪmsoʊl/
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.
1
Ireland, UK A rubber-soled lace-up canvas shoe for sports or onboard ships; a precursor of trainers.
- “Yes, there are two distinct sets of footprints, both wearing rubber shoes—one I think ordinary plimsolls, the other goloshes,” replied the sergeant.1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 13, in Well Tackled!:
- 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.2022, Ian McEwan, Lessons, page 8:
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.
- Derived terms
- plimsolled
- Related terms
- Plimsoll line, Plimsoll mark