HI I do not understand what 'J'ai mis une plombe....

HI I do not understand what 'J’ai mis une plombe… 'means. I have put a leaden?? Any help gratefully received. Thanks Alison

I am fairly sure it means “it took me an hour to find my car”. Just why a ‘plombe’ should equal an hour I’m not sure, though!

It means it took them a very long time to find their car. I don’t know if originally “une plombe” meant an hour, that’s possible, and we can also use the plural “des plombes”.

J’ai mis une plombe / des plombes… = it took me a long time (too much time)…

I wanted to make sure that my memory hadn’t failed me and so checked my dictionaries. I had quite forgotten the joy of a heavy, heavy book on my lap.

According to Le Petit Larousse (2003) “plombe n.f. Fam. Heure. Il vient dans deux plombes.”

Harrap’s Shorter Dictionary (1991) "Arg. hour; voilà quatre plombes, it’s striking four; on ne va pas l’attendre pendant des plombes, we’re not going to wait for him for ever(more).

Le Robert & Collins (2006) : NF, hour; ça fait trois plombes qu’on attend.

There isn’t any further information given in any of them, but I suppose the expression could come from striking the hour on a bell or some such thing…

To my great disappointment my fat Harraps’s Universal (2008) French German dictionnary doesn’t even have the word in it, though it tells me that a maître plombier is a police officer specialising in telephone surveillance/hacking.

So, now I have to heave the books back.

‘… les poids qui servent à faire fonctionner les anciennes horloges qui sonnent les heures sont souvent appelés des ‘plombs’.
Autant de plomb lié aux heures qui sonnent suffit à expliquer que, tout au long du XIXe siècle, le verbe argotique ‘plomber’ voulait dire “sonner l’heure”…’

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