plummet

A piece of lead attached to a line, used in sounding the depth of water; a plumb bob or a plumb line.

I'le ſeeke him deeper than ere plummet ſounded, / And with him there lye mudded.

Iudgement also will I lay to the line, and righteousnesse to the plummet: and the haile shall sweepe away the refuge of lyes, and the waters shall ouerflow the hiding place.

Hence, any weight.

His parachute was shot half away, and if he'd jumped he would have fallen like a plummet.

A piece of lead formerly used by schoolchildren to rule paper for writing (that is, to mark with rules, with lines).

A violent or dramatic fall.

A decline; a fall; a drop.

Yet another seriously under-par performance is unlikely to provide any real answers to their remarkable plummet in form - but it proves they can at least churn out a much-needed result.

To drop swiftly, in a direct manner; to fall quickly.

After its ascent, the arrow plummeted to earth.

The switchback road to Diabaig - pronounced 'Jer-vague' - passes through some of the most exhilarating scenery in Scotland. […] With a final swoop, the road plummets down into Diabaig, where cottages are dotted across the slopes of a rocky semi-circle.