# plum
## English
### Pronunciation

* enPR: plŭm, IPA: /plʌm/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ʌm
* Homophone: plumb

### Etymology 1

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

#### Noun

plum (plural plums)
* The fruit and its tree.
** An edible, fleshy stone fruit of Prunus domestica (European plum), often of a dark red or purple colour. [from 8th c.]
** A stone-fruit tree which bears this fruit, Prunus domestica. [from 8th c.]
** The edible, fleshy stone fruit of several species resembling the plum, or the tree from which they grow. [from 16th c.]
*** Prunus sect. Prunus
**** Prunus cerasifera (cherry plum or myrobalan)
**** Prunus salicina (Chinese plum or Japanese plum)
**** Prunus spinosa (sloe)
**** Prunus ursina (bear's plum)
*** Prunus sect. Prunocerasus North American plums
**** Prunus americana (American plum)
**** Prunus angustifolia (Chickasaw plum or sand plum)
**** Prunus hortulana (hortulan plum)
**** Prunus nigra (Canadian plum or black plum)
**** Prunus rivularis (creek plum or hog plum)
**** Prunus subcordata (Klamath plum or Oregon plum)
*** Prunus sect. Armeniaca (better known as apricots)
**** 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.
** (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!”
* Extended senses.
** (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 […] .
** 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.
** A dark bluish-red color/colour, the colour of some plums. [from 19th c.]
    plum:
    web plum:
** (vulgar, slang, usually in the plural) A testicle. [from 20th c.]
** (derogatory, chiefly UK) A fool, an idiot.

##### Synonyms

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

##### Hypernyms

* fruit

##### Derived terms

* American black plum (Prunus nigra)
* American plum, American wild plum (Prunus americana)
* Assyrian plum (Cordia myxa)
* Australian plum (Cargillia arborea, Cargillia australis)
* Brazil plum, Brazilian plum (Spondias tuberosa)
* California plum (Prunus subcordata)
* Canada plum (Prunus nigra)
* Chinese plum (Prunus mume, Prunus salicina, Eriobotrya japonica)
* Darling plum (Reynosia septentrionalis)
* European plum (Prunus domestica)
* East Indian plum
* Florida sand plum (Prunus angustifolia)
* Guadalupe palm (Erythea edulis)
* Guinea plum (Parinarium excelsum)
* Indian coffee plum (Flacourtia jangomas)
* Indian plum (Flacourtia spp, esp Flacourtia indica; Osmaronia cerasiformis)
* Jamaica plum (Spondias mombin)
* Japanese plum (Prunus mume, Prunus salicina)
* Japan plum (Diospyros kaki, Eriobotrya japonica)
* Modoc plum (Prunus subcordata)
* Morocco plum
* Natal plum (Carissa bispinosa, Carissa grandiflora)
* Oregon plum (Prunus subcordata)
* Orleans plum
* Pacific plum (Prunus subcordata)
* Port Arthur plum (Cenarrhenes nitida)
* Queensland plum
* Satsuma plum
* Sierra plum (Prunus subcordata)
* Spanish plum (Spondias purpurea, Ximenia americana)
* Tasmanian plum
* yellow Spanish plum
* Allegheny plum
* apple-plum
* August plum (Prunus americana)
* batoko plum
* beach plum, beach-plum (Prunus maritima)
* big-tree plum (Prunus mexicana)
* black plum of Illawarra
* black plum (Prunus nigra)
* blood plum (Neoregelia olens var.)
* bullace plum (Prunus institia)
* burdekin plum (Pleiogynium solandri)
* carissa plum (Carissa spp.)
* cassowary plum Cerbera floribunda
* Cherokee plum (Prunus angustifolia)
* cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera)
* Chickasaw plum (Prunus angustifolia)
* cocoa plum, coco plum, cocoplum (Chrysobalanus icaco)
* common plum (Prunus domestica)
* damascene plum, damask plum, damson plum (Prunus insititia)
* date plum, date-plum (Diospyros spp., esp. Diospyros lotus)
* Davidson plum, Davidson's plum
* doveplum (Coccoloba diversifolia)
* dried plum
* false plum anemone (Pseudactinia flagellifera)
* flatwoods plum
* gingerbread plum
* golden plum
* gopher plum (Nyssa ogeche, Chrysobalanus icaco, Chrysobalanus oblongifolius)
* governor's plum, governor plum (Flacourtia indica)
* gray plum, grey plum (Parinarium excelsum)
* greengage plum (Prunus italica, syn. Prunus domestica subsp. italica)
* green plum (Prunus mume)
* ground plum (Astragalus spp., especially Astragalus caryocarpus)
* hog plum, hogplum, hog-plum (Spondias spp., Metopium toxiferum, Prunus angustifolia, Ximenia americana)
* horse plum (Prunus americana, Prunus nigra)
* interspecific plum
* jacket prune (Pappea capensis)
* June plum (Spondias dulcis)
* Kakadu plum
* leaf-curling plum aphid (Brachycaudus helichrysi)
* like a ripe plum
* Madagascar plum
* maiden plum
* marmalade plum (Calocarpum zapota, Mammea americana)
* mealy plum aphid (Hyalopterus pruni)
* mirabelle plum (Prunus domestica subsp. syriaca)
* mobola plum (Parinari curatellifolia)
* mountain plum (Ximenia americana)
* moxie plum (Gaultheria hispidula)
* muscle plum
* musk plum
* mussel plum
* myrobalan plum, myrobella plum (Prunus cerasifera)
* native plum (Cenarrhenes nitida)
* nectaplum
* Oklahoma plum
* olive plum (Elaeodendron spp.)
* partridge plum
* pear-plum
* persimmon-plum
* pigeon plum (Coccoloba spp., Chrysobalanus ellipticus)
* plum bird (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)
* plum bladder (Taphrina spp.)
* plum blossom
* plum-blossom
* plum blotch (Phyllosticha congesta)
* plum brandy
* plum-broth
* plum budder (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)
* plum-cake
* plum cash
* plum-colored, plum-coloured
* plum-colored starling (Cinnyricinclus leucogaster)
* plum-color, plum-colour
* plumcot
* plum curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar)
* plum-damas, plumdamas, plum-damis
* plum-dough, plum-duff
* plum fir (Prumnopitys andina)
* plum-fruited yew (Prumnopitys andina)
* plum fruit moth
* plum gouger (Anthonomus scutellaris)
* plum grape
* plum-headed finch (Neochmia modesta)
* plum-headed parakeet (Psittacula cyanocephala)
* plum in one's mouth
* plum juniper (Juniperus macrocarpa, Juniperus drupacea)
* plum leafhopper (Macropsis trimaculata)
* plumless
* plummy
* plum peach
* plum-pie
* plum pine (Podocarpus elatus)
* plum pocket (Taphrina pruni, Taphrina communis)
* plum-porridge
* plum-pottage
* plum pox
* Plum pox virus
* plum pudding dog
* plum pudding model
* plum pudding, plum-pudding
* plum rain
* plum rains
* plumrock
* plum sauce
* plum scab (Cladosporium carpophilum)
* plum-stone
* plum thrips (Taeniothrips inconsequens)
* plum-throated cotinga (Cotinga maynana)
* plum tom
* plum tomato
* plum tree
* plum weevil (Conotrachelus nenuphar)
* plum wine
* plum yew, plum-yew (Cephalotaxus)
* pluot
* prairie plum (Prunus angustifolia)
* prune plum (Prunus domestica subsp. domestica)
* purple-leaved plum (Prunus cerasifera subsp. pissardi)
* red plum (Prunus americana, Prunus nigra)
* rough-skin plum (Parinarium excelsum)
* saffron plum (Bumelia angustifolia)
* sandhill plum (Prunus angustifolia)
* sand plum (Prunus angustifolia subsp. watsonii)
* sapodilla plum
* seaside plum (Ximenia americana, Coccoloba uvifera)
* sebesten plum (Cordia myxa)
* seeded plum (Diospyros spp.)
* shake the plum tree
* shore plum (Prunus maritima)
* slugplum
* sour plum (Owenia acidula, Ximenia spp.)
* star plum (Chrysophyllum cainito)
* sugar plum, sugar-plum, sugarplum
* sweet plum (Pleiogynium solandri)
* tamarind plum (Dialium indum)
* thorn plum (Crataegus spp., Datura stramonium)
* urucuri plum
* Victoria plum
* Watson's plum
* western plum (Prunus subcordata)
* wheat-plum
* wild-goose plum (Prunus hortulana, Prunus munsoniana)
* wild plum
* winter plum (Diospyros spp)
* yellowgage plum
* yellow plum (Prunus americana)

##### Descendants

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

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Adjective

plum (comparative more plum, superlative most plum)
* (comparable) Of a dark bluish-red colour.
    Synonym: plum-colored
* (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!

##### Translations
#### See also

* briolette
* damson
* greengage
* mirabelle
* myrobalan
* prune
* sapote
* slivovitz
* sloe
* umeboshi
* umesu
* Appendix:Colors

### Etymology 2

Phonetically based spelling of plumb.

#### Adjective

plum (comparative more plum, superlative most plum)
* Plumb

#### Adverb

plum (not comparable)
* Completely; utterly.
    You're going to think I'm plum crazy for this, but I want to adopt all seven kittens.

##### Translations
#### Verb

plum (third-person singular simple present plums, present participle plumming, simple past and past participle plummed)
* (mining) To plumb.

### Anagrams

* lump

## Middle English
### Noun

plum
* Alternative form of plomme

## Rade
### Etymology

From Proto-Chamic *plum, from Austroasiatic.

### Noun

plum
* land-leech

### References

* James A. Tharp, Y-Bhăm Ƀuôn-yǎ (1980) A Rhade-English Dictionary with English-Rhade Finderlist (Pacific Linguistics. Series C-58)‎, 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

## Romansch
### Alternative forms

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

### Etymology

From Latin plumbum (“lead”).

### Noun

plum m
* (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan) lead (metal)