plenumn.adj.
/ˈpliːnəm/, U.S. /ˈplɛn(ə)m/, /ˈplin(ə)m/ A. n.
1.
a. Physics. A space completely filled with matter; spec. the whole of space regarded as being so filled. Contrasted with vacuum n. 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > space > [noun] > plenitude
plenum1674
plenitudea1679
the world > space > place > presence > fact of taking up space > [noun] > filling > a space completely filled
plenum1674
plenitudea1679
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > philosophy of mind-body interrelation > [noun] > Cartesianism > elements of
idea1649
conarium1656
plenum1728
cogito1854
the world > the universe > [noun] > specific
block universe1881
plenum1887
expanding universe1931
steady state1948
the world > matter > physics > quantum theory > quantum mechanics > quantum electrodynamics > [noun] > space filled with matter
plenum1972
1674 R. Boyle Animadversions upon Mr. Hobbes's Problemata de Vacuo 68 in Tracts But may not Mr. Hobbes say, that ‘tis as lawful for him to suppose a Plenum, as for them to suppose a Vacuum’.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. i. 8 Leucippus and his Companion Democritus make the first Principles of all things to be Plenum and Vacuum (Body and Space).
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) The Cartesians adhere firmly to the Doctrine of an absolute Plenum.
1747 B. Franklin Let. 28 July in Exper. & Observ. Electr. (1751) 3 Here we have a bottle containing at the same time a plenum of electrical fire, and a vacuum of the same fire.
1822 R. Hall Serm. in Wks. (1833) VI. 13 In a perfect plenum, motion would be impossible.
1876 C. Slagg Sanitary Work ix. 102 The motion of the pan..disturbs the equilibrium between the air-pressure in the receiver and the outside, causing at times a partial vacuum and at other times a plenum of air in the receiver.
1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 565/1 From the astronomers the Stoics borrowed their picture of the universe,—a plenum in the form of a series of layers or concentric rings, first, the elements, then the planetary and stellar spheres, massed round the earth as centre.
1956 E. H. Hutten Lang. Mod. Physics iii. 90 In Newton's theory it [sc. the aether] plays no rôle save to help visualisation: the victory of the Cartesian conception of space as a plenum as against the Aristotelian void.
1972 Sci. Amer. Apr. 115/2 It is not the ether as a medium that is denied by Einstein... We can deny only the Newtonian properties of the ether, in particular the linear addition of velocities. Quantum electrodynamics builds a real plenum in space.
1991 M. Talbot Holographic Universe i. ii. 51 Space is not empty. It is full, a plenum as opposed to a vacuum.
b. Chiefly literary. In extended use: a condition of fullness or great quantity; a place filled with something.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > presence > fact of taking up space > [noun] > fullness
fullnessa1398
repletiona1398
fullinessa1400
impletion1583
repleteness1603
plenitya1622
expletion1623
plenuma1784
stowage1825
plenitude1857
the world > space > place > presence > fact of taking up space > [noun] > filling > a full place
plenuma1784
a1784 G. A. Stevens Songs, Comic & Satyrical (1788) 11 A Plenum in our Wine we show, With Plus, and Plus behind, sir, And when our Cash is minus, low, A Vacuum soon we find, sir.
1797 R. Southey Lett. from Spain i. 6 This..was followed by some excellent chocolate, and I soon established a plenum in my system.
1858 ‘G. Eliot’ Amos Barton ii, in Scenes Clerical Life I. 46 He must have some approximate conception of the mode in which the doctrines that have so much vitality in the plenum of his own brain will comport themselves in vacuo.
1878 ‘G. Eliot’ College Breakfast Party in Macmillan's Mag. July 163 An ache, a need That spaceless stays where sharp analysis Has shown a plenum filled without it.
1949 E. Pound Pisan Cantos (new ed.) lxxvii. 61 Mind come to plenum when nothing more will go into it.
1992 Antigonish Rev. Spring 94 He'd realized how thoroughly he had duped himself, how ludicrous was his willingness to enter the cold vacuum of death, which he'd always mistaken for the plenum of pure spirit.
2. A full assembly; a meeting of a legislative body, conference, association, etc., at which all the members are expected to be present.Originally used of meetings of one of the legislative chambers of the Swedish parliament. During the 20th cent. the term was particularly associated with communist parties, esp. in the Soviet Union.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > association for a common purpose > meeting or assembling for common purpose > [noun] > a meeting > types of
morn-speechOE
court1154
morrow-speech1183
conventicle1382
congregation1389
plenary session1483
journeyc1500
night school1529
assession1560
general meeting1565
family meeting1638
panegyris1647
desk1691
collegea1703
annual general meeting1725
mass meeting1733
panegyre1757
plenum1772
family council1797
coterie1805
Round Table1830
GA1844
indignation meeting1848
protest meeting1852
hui1858
primary1859
Quaker meeting1861
mothers' meeting1865
sit-down1868
town hall1912
jamboree1919
protest rally1921
con1940
face-to-face1960
morning prayers1961
struggle meeting1966
be-in1967
love-in1967
plenary1969
catch-up1972
rencontre1975
schmoozefest1976
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > other national governing or legislative bodies > [noun] > in Sweden > meeting of one of chambers
plenum1772
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > types of body or spec. bodies > [noun] > committee > committees in communist countries
Presidium1907
Politburo1923
plenum1948
1772 Hartford Mercury 18 Sept. The Marshal of the Diet opened the Plenum of the Nobility with a long panegyric upon the King.
1772 Town & Country Mag. Jan. 50/1 In the plenum held yesterday [in Stockholm], the inferior orders made no alteration in the resolution they had taken of adopting the royal capitulation with the projected changes.
1850 Times 11 May 6/4 Austria has made use of her presidential rights, and has summoned the members of the General Assembly, or Plenum, to meet at Frankfurt.
1885 Ld. Loftus in Pall Mall Gaz. 6 May 2/1 All colonial questions in common to the empire would be discussed by the Plenum, but would have to be sanctioned by the Imperial Parliament before receiving the Queen's sanction.
1928 Eng. Hist. Rev. 43 549 What they [sc. Gyllenborg and Lanmary] lost in the secret committee they might carry in the plenum.
1948 J. Towster Polit. Power in U.S.S.R. x. 189 The plenums of the village and city soviets electing their own executive organs.
1987 I. Radforth Bushworkers & Bosses vii. 135 A final convention of the WUL [= Workers' Unity League], held immediately after the ninth plenum.
1990 Summary of World Broadcasts Pt. 1: U.S.S.R. (B.B.C.) (Nexis) 29 Oct. The decisions of the relevant plena of party committees were endorsed.
3. A plenum chamber or space.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > [noun] > supplying fresh air or ventilation > specific method of ventilating building > enclosed space for outside air
plenum chamber1908
plenum space1916
plenum1931
1931 Lancet 20 June 1355 It [sc. a ventilation system] was in fact a combination of a feeble plenum combined with a heat exhaust.
1957 Internat. Jrnl. Appl. Radiation & Isotopes 1 317 Cooling of the unit is accomplished by an air-stream flowing through the plenum around the tubes.
1988 C. H. Collins Laboratory-acquired Infections (ed. 2) 123 The probability that UV radiation will sterilize moving air either in the cabinet or in the plenum above it is therefore very low.
1995 Flight Internat. 1 Mar. 24/3 The perforated lining of the plenum acts as a diffuser which gives a more uniform air flow into the engine compressor.
B. adj. (attributive).
Relating to or designating a system of ventilation, air conditioning, etc., in which fresh or conditioned air is forced into a building at various points and drives out the stale air, esp. in plenum method, plenum system.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > [adjective] > of or relating to ventilation > specific method of
plenum1844
the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > [noun] > supplying fresh air or ventilation > specific method of ventilating building
plenum method1888
1844 D. B. Reid Illustr. Theory & Pract. Ventilation ii. iii. 121 Plenum ventilation..can be sustained only by the constant use of machinery.
1852 Lancet 6 Mar. 253/2 Ventilation by the plenum method implies that the fresh air is blown or driven into the apartment to be ventilated, and the impure air thus forced out.
1888 J. A. Ewing in Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 160/2 A broad distinction may be drawn between what are sometimes called vacuum and plenum methods of artificial ventilation.
1894 J. Keith Houses of Parl.: Rep. Heating & Ventilation 3 The action of the Plenum fan..in blowing in the fresh air upwards through the grated floor of the Chamber.
1903 Architect 24 Apr. 276/2 The ventilation of the hospital was secured by natural, as opposed to artificial, means, such as that usually called the Plenum system.
1934 H. M. Vernon Princ. Heating & Ventilation ix. 177 A comparison of some thousands of observations made in factories ventilated by plenum air and by natural means showed very little defect of humidity in the plenum factories.
1978 Ld. Drogheda Double Harness xiii. 143 We had allowed for proper air conditioning... Instead we installed a horrible thing called plenum ventilation, which warmed the air in winter, filling the offices with smuts..but failing to cool it in summer.
1995 R. Fellows Edwardian Archit. iii. 71/2 North Yorkshire County Hall..used fans to force warm air into the council chamber through a plenum system.
Compounds
plenum chamber n. (a) (in a ventilation, heating, etc., system) an enclosed space into which the outside air is forced (after any conditioning) and from which ducts lead to outlets inside the building; (b) any analogous enclosed space in which a higher pressure is maintained by the forcing in of air, as in some air-cooled engines, ramjets, hovercraft, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > [noun] > parts of
helm1663
spring-beam?1794
steam-jacket1838
cut-off1849
steam-jacketing1870
starting block1881
timing chain1889
timing mark1901
decelerator1907
air drain1908
plenum chamber1908
reservoir1920
the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > [noun] > supplying fresh air or ventilation > specific method of ventilating building > enclosed space for outside air
plenum chamber1908
plenum space1916
plenum1931
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > other types of engine > [noun] > other specific engines > parts of
plenum chamber1908
1908 A. G. King Pract. Steam & Hot Water Heating xxi. 227 The heated air..may be discharged under a slight pressure into a plenum chamber with which all supply pipes or warm-air ducts are connected.
1949 Aircraft Engin. Nov. 346/2 A disadvantage is that the pressure of the combustion chambers raises the temperature of the air in the plenum chamber, with a slight loss of power.
1967 New Scientist 31 Aug. 435/1 The cushion of air on which a hovercraft rides is created continuously by a flow of air delivered through ducts, which empty themselves into the plenum chamber by nozzles equally spaced around its edge.
1988 V. Capel Audio & Hi-Fi Engineer's Pocket Bk. 35 For filtering low frequency noise from the fan or conditioning equipment, a plenum chamber..is interposed between the equipment and the ducting.
1997 AOPA Pilot Nov. 52/1 Ransom even enclosed his engine in a plenum chamber to control airflow.
plenum space n. a plenum chamber in a building's ventilation system.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > gas > air > fresh air > [noun] > supplying fresh air or ventilation > specific method of ventilating building > enclosed space for outside air
plenum chamber1908
plenum space1916
plenum1931
1916 C. L. Hubbard Ventilation Hand Bk. ix. 154 The flues connecting the plenum space with the registers are..concealed in the leg of the pew.
1975 D. J. Croome-Gale & B. M. Roberts Airconditioning & Ventilation of Buildings vii. 278 The ventilated ceiling system is an all-air system which delivers supply air through..ductwork to a plenum space over a suspended ceiling.
2003 Dallas Business Jrnl. (Nexis) 13 June 11 Throughout the years, old cables usually were left behind in plenum spaces as new wiring was installed.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.adj.1674