plum

• enPR: plŭm, IPA^(key): /plʌm/

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• Rhymes: -ʌm
• Homophone: plumb

From Middle English plomme, ploume, from Old English plūme, from Proto-Germanic *prūmǭ. Cognate with German Pflaume, Dutch pruim, Norwegian plomme. Doublet of prune.

A plum growing on a plum tree.

plum (plural plums)

1. The edible, fleshy stone fruit of Prunus domestica, often of a dark red or purple colour.
2. The stone-fruit tree which bears this fruit, Prunus domestica.
3. A dark bluish-red color/colour, the colour of some plums.

   plum colour:  

   web plum colour:  

4. A desirable thing.
5. (archaic) A handsome fortune or property; formerly, in cant language, the sum of £100,000 sterling, or a person possessing it.
6. (dated) A good or choice thing of its kind, as among appointments, positions, parts of a book, etc.

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

7. A raisin, when used in a pudding or cake.
8. (derogatory) A fool, idiot.
9. (slang, usually in the plural) A testicle.
10. The edible, fleshy stone fruit of several species sharing Prunus subg. Prunus with Prunus domestica including, among others:
    1. Prunus sect. Prunus
       1. Prunus cerasifera, the cherry plum or myrobalan
       2. Prunus salicina the Chinese plum or Japanese plum
       3. Prunus spinosa, the sloe
       4. Prunus ursina the bear's plum
    2. Prunus sect. Prunocerasus North American plums
       1. Prunus americana, the American plum
       2. Prunus angustifolia, the Chickasaw plum or sandhill plum
       3. Prunus hortulana, the hortulan plum
       4. Prunus nigra, the Canadian plum or black plum
       5. Prunus rivularis, the creek plum or hog plum
       6. Prunus subcordata, the 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.
11. The stone-fruit trees which bear these fruits.
12. The fruits of many unrelated trees and shrubs with fruit perceived to resemble plums
13. The trees and shrubs bearing those fruits

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

• → Cornish: ploum
• → 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.

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 (plural plums)

1. feather
2. pen (writing tool)

plum

1. Alternative form of plomme

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

From Latin plumbum (“lead”).

plum m

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