plum

• enPR: plŭm, IPA^(key): /plʌm/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ʌm
• Homophone: plumb

From Middle English plomme, ploume, from Old English plūme, from Proto-West Germanic *plūmā, borrowed from Latin prūnum. Doublet of prune.

plum (plural plums)

1. The fruit and its tree.
   2. An edible, fleshy stone fruit of Prunus domestica (European plum), often of a dark red or purple colour. [from 8th c.]
   3. A stone-fruit tree which bears this fruit, Prunus domestica. [from 8th c.]
   4. The edible, fleshy stone fruit of several species resembling the plum, or the tree from which they grow. [from 16th c.]
      1. Prunus sect. Prunus
         1. Prunus cerasifera (cherry plum or myrobalan)
         2. Prunus salicina (Chinese plum or Japanese plum)
         3. Prunus spinosa (sloe)
         4. Prunus ursina (bear's plum)
      2. Prunus sect. Prunocerasus North American plums
         1. Prunus americana (American plum)
         2. Prunus angustifolia (Chickasaw plum or sand plum)
         3. Prunus hortulana (hortulan plum)
         4. Prunus nigra (Canadian plum or black plum)
         5. Prunus rivularis (creek plum or hog plum)
         6. Prunus subcordata (Klamath plum or Oregon plum)
      3. Prunus sect. Armeniaca (better known as apricots)
         1. Prunus mume, an Asian fruit more closely related to the apricot than the plum, usually consumed pickled, dried, or as a juice or wine; ume.
   5. (now rare) A dried grape or raisin, as used in a pudding or cake. [from 17th c.]
      • 1870, Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl:

        “Bright boy! here’s a plum for you,” and Polly threw a plump raisin into his mouth.

      • 1877, Mother Gooose’s Nursery Rhymes:

        Little Jack Horner sat in a corner, eating a Christmas pie; he put in his thumb, and he took out a plum, and said, “What a good boy am I!”

2. Extended senses.
   1. (now rare, archaic) One hundred thousand pounds; (generally) a fortune. [from 18th c.]
      • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

        He […] acquired a plentiful fortune, tho', to his infinite regret, he died before it amounted to a Plum […] .

   2. A desirable or choice thing of its kind; a prize selection; a choice appointment, assignment etc. [from 19th c.]

      The mayor rewarded his cronies with cushy plums, requiring little work for handsome pay.

      • 1880, William Blades, The Enemies of Books, page 52:

        Such chances as this do not fall to a man's lot twice; but Edmond Werdet relates a story very similar indeed, and where also the "plums" fell into the lap of a London dealer.

      • 1980 December 13, Ronnie Allen, “Anita's Latest”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 21, page 5:

        As to Rev. Jerry [Falwell], he, of course, is "not anti-homosexual" but "anti-homosexuality." I guess that's his same bit of down home sophistry that explains that God listens to the prayers of Jews, if they are consciously praying to a Christian God, one of the Rev.'s latest dialectic plums.

   3. A dark bluish-red color/colour, the colour of some plums. [from 19th c.]

      plum:  

      web plum:  

   4. (vulgar, slang, usually in the plural) A testicle. [from 20th c.]
   5. (derogatory, chiefly UK) A fool, an idiot.

• (tree): plum tree, plumtree
• (edible fleshy fruit of Prunus mume): ume

• fruit

• → Cornish: ploum
• → Haida: pláms
• → Manx: plumbis
• → Japanese: プラム (puramu)
• → Scottish Gaelic: plumas
• → Thai: พลัม (plam)

plum (comparative more plum, superlative most plum)

1. (comparable) Of a dark bluish-red colour.
2. (not comparable) Choice; especially lavish or preferred.

   She landed a plum position as an executive for the firm.

   • 1960 March, G. Freeman Allen, “Europe's most luxurious express - the "Settebello"”, in Trains Illustrated, page 146:

     It is obviously a "plum" job, one distinction being that its motormen are granted an allowance of about 6s. [six shillings] towards the cost of Wagons-Lits food in the crew quarters of the train, [...]. Additionally, by the way, each man is allowed a quarter of a bottle of wine "on the house" per trip!

Phonetically based spelling of plumb.

plum (comparative more plum, superlative most plum)

1. Plumb

plum (not comparable)

1. Completely; utterly.

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

plum (third-person singular simple present plums, present participle plumming, simple past and past participle plummed)

1. (mining) To plumb.

• lump

plum

1. Alternative form of plomme

From Proto-Chamic *plum, from Austroasiatic.

plum

1. land-leech

• James A. Tharp, Y-Bhăm Ƀuôn-yǎ (1980) A Rhade-English Dictionary with English-Rhade Finderlist (Pacific Linguistics. Series C-58)‎^[1], Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University, →ISBN, archived from the original on 1 November 2021, page 107

• plùn, plùm (Sutsilvan)
• plom (Surmiran, Puter, Vallader)

From Latin plumbum (“lead”).

plum m

1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan) lead (metal)