Diccionario ingles.comDiccionario ingles.com
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Plum   /pləm/   Listen
noun
Plum  n.  
1.
(Bot.) The edible drupaceous fruit of the Prunus domestica, and of several other species of Prunus; also, the tree itself, usually called plum tree. "The bullace, the damson, and the numerous varieties of plum, of our gardens, although growing into thornless trees, are believed to be varieties of the blackthorn, produced by long cultivation." Note: Two or three hundred varieties of plums derived from the Prunus domestica are described; among them the greengage, the Orleans, the purple gage, or Reine Claude Violette, and the German prune, are some of the best known. Note: Among the true plums are; Beach plum, the Prunus maritima, and its crimson or purple globular drupes, Bullace plum. See Bullace. Chickasaw plum, the American Prunus Chicasa, and its round red drupes. Orleans plum, a dark reddish purple plum of medium size, much grown in England for sale in the markets. Wild plum of America, Prunus Americana, with red or yellow fruit, the original of the Iowa plum and several other varieties. Among plants called plum, but of other genera than Prunus, are; Australian plum, Cargillia arborea and Cargillia australis, of the same family with the persimmon. Blood plum, the West African Haematostaphes Barteri. Cocoa plum, the Spanish nectarine. See under Nectarine. Date plum. See under Date. Gingerbread plum, the West African Parinarium macrophyllum. Gopher plum, the Ogeechee lime. Gray plum, Guinea plum. See under Guinea. Indian plum, several species of Flacourtia.
2.
A grape dried in the sun; a raisin.
3.
A handsome fortune or property; formerly, in cant language, the sum of £100,000 sterling; also, the person possessing it.
4.
Something likened to a plum in desirableness; a good or choice thing of its kind, as among appointments, positions, parts of a book, etc.; as, the mayor rewarded his cronies with cushy plums, requiring little work for handsome pay
5.
A color resembling that of a plum; a slightly grayish deep purple, varying somewhat in its red or blue tint.
Plum bird, Plum budder (Zool.), the European bullfinch.
Plum gouger (Zool.), a weevil, or curculio (Coccotorus scutellaris), which destroys plums. It makes round holes in the pulp, for the reception of its eggs. The larva bores into the stone and eats the kernel.
Plum weevil (Zool.), an American weevil which is very destructive to plums, nectarines, cherries, and many other stone fruits. It lays its eggs in crescent-shaped incisions made with its jaws. The larva lives upon the pulp around the stone. Called also turk, and plum curculio.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |





"Plum" Quotes from Famous Books



... better than absolute blue, for there were soft, white clouds in it, and the air that our Sunday breathed under it was, at the beginning of April, as bland as that of an American May-end. The orchard trees were in bloom—peach and plum, cherry and pear—whenever you chose to look at them, and all nature seemed to rejoice in the cessation of the two days' strike which had now enabled us to drive to the station instead of walking and carrying our bags and bundles. There were so many of these that we had taken two cabs, and at ...
— Roman Holidays and Others • W. D. Howells

... "It wouldn't make a plum bit o' difference, ma'm," said Sikes deliberately, "we never reckoned it wus enything else—so yer might just as well stop hollerin', fer yer goin' whar we take yer, an' ye'll stay thar till Bill Lacy says yer ter go. Hit 'em up, Matt; ...
— The Strange Case of Cavendish • Randall Parrish

... star-trap with a diabolical laugh. Cupboard-doors close with a clang; all lights down. JOE stands gazing blankly for some moments, and then drags himself off Stage. His Mother and JOHN, with Pear- and Plum-gatherers bearing laden baskets, appear at doors at back of Scene, ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari Volume 98, January 4, 1890 • Various

... the two-year-old baby who dashes his bread-and-butter on the floor, in wrath at the lack of marmalade, does it because of a prevailing effectual tendency in his nature, or in consequence of his federal alliance with Adam, or from a previous surfeit of plum-cake, is a question which seems to bear a general family likeness to the inquiry, whether there is such a thing as generic bread-and-butter, or only such specific slices as arouse infant ire and nourish infant tissue. But around both classes of questions ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 91, May, 1865 • Various

... I suppose cookies and vinegar had taken away their appetites, for none of them were hungry, and Dorry astonished Aunt Izzie very much by eyeing the table in a disgusted way, and saying: "Pshaw! only plum sweatmeats and sponge cake and hot biscuit! I don't ...
— What Katy Did • Susan Coolidge


More quotes...



Copyright © 2025 Diccionario ingles.com