Does anyone know where the phrase "plum tired" came from?

A friend of mine asked me for a research project, and I haven't been able to find the origins on the Web. I know what it means, but I'm trying to find out how it started.

Does anyone know where the phrase "plum tired" came from?
plumb tired
Reply:"Adverb

plum (not comparable)



Positive

plum

Comparative

not comparable

Superlative

none (absolute)



Completely; utterly.

You're going to think I'm plum crazy for this, but I want to adopt all seven kittens."



I hope it helps.
Reply:I don't know either. I never really thought about it till now
Reply:I have a suggestion. "Plumbum" in Latin means lead and is used in the English term "plumb line", which is in ordinary everyday use. When one is so tired that one wants to drop, isn't it just like lead and plumb lines?
Reply:plum(b), (adv. PLUM), totally, completely, entirely, fully. "I'm plum tired of messing with your penny-ante problems." "The pitcher's arm is plum give out."



plump[down/over], (v. intransitive PLUMP), a combination of the phrases "plop down" and "slump over," and carrying both meanings simultaneously. "He came home from work so tired he just plumped down in his favorite chair and went to sleep, whereupon he plumped over."
Reply:that is a southern term,comming down the generations from the welsh people.they had all those name and origin slangs on tv the other day.
Reply:I found this on a website it sounds like maybe the saying was "plumb" tired originally meaning very tired.





The word is definitely "plumb," not "plum." One sense of "plumb" in the American Heritage Dictionary is "Utterly; completely; entirely: 'plumb tired'" (labeled "informal"). I'm guessing that this meaning came from the use of a plumb (lead weight) in building. An architectural element that matches a plumb line is absolutely ("utterly, completely, entirely") vertical.
Reply:This is a guess on the origin of the phrase...



A plum line is used in carpentry to calculate a true vertical line by using gravity and a weight on a string.



"plum tired" could therefore mean "I am truly tired."

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