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Plume   /plum/   Listen
noun
Plume  n.  
1.
A feather; esp., a soft, downy feather, or a long, conspicuous, or handsome feather. "Wings... of many a colored plume."
2.
(Zool.) An ornamental tuft of feathers.
3.
A feather, or group of feathers, worn as an ornament; a waving ornament of hair, or other material resembling feathers. "His high plume, that nodded o'er his head."
4.
A token of honor or prowess; that on which one prides himself; a prize or reward. "Ambitious to win from me some plume."
5.
(Bot.) A large and flexible panicle of inflorescence resembling a feather, such as is seen in certain large ornamental grasses.
Plume bird (Zool.), any bird that yields ornamental plumes, especially the species of Epimarchus from New Guinea, and some of the herons and egrets, as the white heron of Florida (Ardea candidissima).
Plume grass. (Bot)
(a)
A kind of grass (Erianthus saccharoides) with the spikelets arranged in great silky plumes, growing in swamps in the Southern United States.
(b)
The still finer Erianthus Ravennae from the Mediterranean region. The name is sometimes extended to the whole genus.
Plume moth (Zool.), any one of numerous small, slender moths, belonging to the family Pterophoridae. Most of them have the wings deeply divided into two or more plumelike lobes. Some species are injurious to the grapevine.
Plume nutmeg (Bot.), an aromatic Australian tree (Atherosperma moschata), whose numerous carpels are tipped with long plumose persistent styles.


verb
Plume  v. t.  (past & past part. plumed; pres. part. pluming)  
1.
To pick and adjust the plumes or feathers of; to dress or prink. "Pluming her wings among the breezy bowers."
2.
To strip of feathers; to pluck; to strip; to pillage; also, to peel. (Obs.)
3.
To adorn with feathers or plumes. "Farewell the plumed troop."
4.
To pride; to vaunt; to boast; used reflexively; as, he plumes himself on his skill.
Plumed adder (Zool.), an African viper (Vipera cornuta, syn. Clotho cornuta), having a plumelike structure over each eye. It is venomous, and is related to the African puff adder. Called also horned viper and hornsman.
Plumed partridge (Zool.), the California mountain quail (Oreortyx pictus). See Mountain quail, under Mountain.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Plume" Quotes from Famous Books



... delights cannot long survive. Custom stales them all, and wraps everything in its robe of ashen grey. We get used to what was once so fresh and wonderful, and do not care very much about anything any more. We smile pitying smiles—sadder than any tears—at 'boyish enthusiasm,' and sometimes plume ourselves on having come to 'years which bring the philosophic mind'; and all the while we know that we have lost a great gift, which here can ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - St. Mark • Alexander Maclaren
... vessels of the white men touched upon our coasts, they were sovereign masters of all this land—from ocean to ocean. The sea alone was their boundary. Thousands of warriors followed their banners, and crowded around their plume-bedecked standards of war. In the ocean the pearl-banks, and on the land the placers of gold belonged to them. The yellow metal glanced upon their dresses and armour, or ornamented the very sandals upon their feet. They possessed it in such abundance, they scarce knew ...
— The Tiger Hunter • Mayne Reid
... of a wolf or fox,—must look up from that low level, and discern, so far above, this skilled and wondrous creature, who by ingenuity and self-schooling has converted his helplessness into power, and made himself the plume and crown ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 90, April, 1865 • Various
... son Willy lies on the grass in a blue jerkin and broad-brimmed black hat with a plume. Willy's face is of the type on which trouble tells. Behind him, and leaning on the gate that leads from the court to the meadow, is Ralph, in a loose jacket with deep collar and a straw hat. He looks years younger than ...
— The Shadow of a Crime - A Cumbrian Romance • Hall Caine
... climate, who were as kindly as they were intelligent; pale-faced women, languorous and seductive, with soft low murmuring voices; and lastly, just as I passed through, a negro drum-major of the National Guard, with a great big busby and a plume that ...
— Memoirs • Prince De Joinville


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