I. ˈpləm noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English plum, plumme, plowme plum, plum tree, from Old English plūme; akin to Old High German pflūmo plum tree; both from a prehistoric West Germanic word borrowed from Latin prunum plum, from Greek proumnon
1.
a. : any of numerous trees and shrubs of the genus Prunus that have medium-sized globular to oval smooth-skinned fruits which are drupes enclosing a smooth elongated flattened seed and that include various improved forms cultivated for their fruits or for their ornamental flowers or foliage — compare cherry , peach ; see damson , greengage , prune
b. : the fruit of a plum
c. : the streaked hard small-pored reddish brown wood of a plum tree especially of the common European plum used to a limited extent for small cabinetwork and turnery
2.
a. : any of various trees with edible fruits resembling plums: as
(1) : a tree of the genus Spondias — see hog plum
(2) : persimmon
(3) : a tree of the genus Flacourtia — see governor's plum
b. : the fruit of such a tree
c. chiefly New England : any of various edible berries (as a partridgeberry, Juneberry, or huckleberry)
3.
a. : a raisin when used in puddings or other dishes
b. : sugarplum
4.
a. archaic : the sum of £100,000 sterling
worth half a plum — Richard Steele
b. : something excellent or superior of its kind (as a choice passage in a book or an unusually good position)
a fellowship that was the history department's plum
— compare lemon
c. : something desirable received or available as a recompense for service especially through political patronage
a senator with several plums at his disposal
d. : an unexpected increment of property or money : windfall — compare melon
5. : a stone or mass of rock embedded in a matrix of a different kind (as a pebble in a conglomerate) ; especially : large stone added to concrete after mixing and placing but before hardening
6.
a. : a variable color averaging a dark reddish purple that is bluer and duller than grape wine or royal purple (sense 1) and less strong and slightly darker than imperial
b. : a dark purple that is bluer, stronger, and slightly lighter than average prune, redder and duller than mulberry (sense 2a) and redder and less strong than mulberry purple
II. intransitive verb
( plummed ; plummed ; plumming ; plums )
Etymology: Middle English plumen
dialect chiefly England : rise , swell
III.
variant of plumb
IV. adjective
1. dialect England : rounded out : plump
2. dialect England , of a drink : mild, smooth, and mellow