plume
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpluːm/
ipa: /ˈpljuːm/
ipa: /ˈplum/
rhymes: -uːm
Forms: form: plumes
Etymology: From Late Middle English plum, plume (“feather; plumage”), from Anglo-Norman plum, plume f and Middle French, Old French plume f, plome (“plumage; down used for stuffing pillows, etc.; pen, quill”) (modern French plume f (“feather; pen, quill; pen nib; (figurative) writer”)), and directly from its etymon Latin plūma f (“feather; plumage; down”) (compare Late Latin plūma f (“pen, quill”)), from Proto-Italic *plouksmā, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to fly; to flow; to run; to flap with hands; to splash”).
The English word is a doublet of pluma.
Senses: examples: text: Under a Coronet his flowing haire / In curles on either cheek plaid, wings he wore / Of many a colourd plume ſprinkl'd with Gold, / His habit fit for ſpeed ſuccinct, and held / Before his decent ſteps a Silver wand.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 650–654:
text: The firſt thing that ſtruck Manfred’s eyes was a groupe of his ſervants endeavouring to raiſe ſomething that appeared to him a mountain of ſable plumes. […] [W]hat a ſight for a father’s eyes!—he beheld his child daſhed to pieces, and almoſt buried under an enormous helmet, an hundred times more large than any caſque ever made for human being, and ſhaded with a proportionable quantity of black feathers.
ref: 1764 December 24 (indicated as 1765), Onuphrio Muralto, translated by William Marshal [pseudonyms; Horace Walpole], chapter I, in The Castle of Otranto, […], London: […] Tho[mas] Lownds […], →OCLC, pages 4–5:
text: [T]he most valuable cargo carried by the Titanic wasn't diamonds or gold but 12 cases of ostrich plumes valued at $2.3 million in today's money.
ref: 2020 August 4, Richard Conniff, “They may Look Goofy, but Ostriches are Nobody’s Fool”, in National Geographic, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Oct 2020:
text: Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
ref: 1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review, volume I, number II, New York, N.Y.; London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC:
glosses: A feather of a bird, especially a large or showy one used as a decoration.
examples: text: The fearful infant turn'd his head away, / And on his nurſe's neck reclining lay, / His unknown father ſhunning with affright, / And looking back on ſo uncouth a ſight; / Daunted to ſee a face with ſteel o'er-ſpread, / And his high plume that nodded o'er his head.
ref: a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Last Parting of Hector and Andromache. From the Sixth Book of the Iliad.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 455:
glosses: A cluster of feathers worn as an ornament, especially on a helmet; a hackle.
examples: text: But well thou comſt / Before thy fellows, ambitious to win / From me ſom Plume, that thy ſucceſs may ſhow / Deſtruction to the reſt: [...]
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 159–162:
synonyms: feather in one's cap
glosses: A token of honour or prowess; that on which one prides oneself; a prize or reward.
glosses: The vane (“flattened, web-like part”) of a feather, especially when on a quill pen or the fletching of an arrow.
glosses: Ellipsis of plume moth (“a small, slender moth of the family Pterophoridae”).
examples: text: Tidal gravitational effects cause plumes of sodium silicate to erupt from Elaaden's core, depositing unusually pure silicon sand across the surface—invaluable for manufacturing high-performance computer hardware.
ref: 2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Elaaden Codex entry:
glosses: Things resembling a feather.
examples: text: After the explosion, a plume of smoke could be seen in the sky for miles around.
text: The pollutant creates a contaminant plume within an aquifer.
text: Passengers on the earliest railway services would not even have enjoyed the luxury of a platform, instead having to step up onto the waiting open top wagons, where they would experience a journey that left many choking on the plumes of smoke exhaled by the leading locomotive.
ref: 2025 July 9, Oliver Wheeler, “Action stations...”, in RAIL, number 1039, page 68:
glosses: Things resembling a feather.
A cloud formed by a dispersed substance fanning out or spreading.
glosses: Things resembling a feather.
An upward spray of mist or water.
topics: astronomy
natural-sciences
glosses: Things resembling a feather.
An arc of glowing material (chiefly gases) erupting from the surface of a star.
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: Things resembling a feather.
A large and flexible panicle of an inflorescence resembling a feather, such as is seen in certain large ornamental grasses.
topics: geography
geology
natural-sciences
glosses: Things resembling a feather.
Ellipsis of mantle plume (“an upwelling of abnormally hot molten material from the Earth's mantle which spreads sideways when it reaches the lithosphere”).
topics: biology
natural-sciences
zoology
glosses: Things resembling a feather.
A body part resembling a feather.
The furry tail of certain dog breeds (such as the Samoyed) that curls over their backs or stands erect.
topics: biology
natural-sciences
zoology
glosses: Things resembling a feather.
A body part resembling a feather.
More fully gill plume: a feathery gill of some crustaceans and molluscs.
Derived terms: antiplume
Apache plume
displume
emplume
interplume
megaplume
nom-de-plume
plume alum
plumebird
plume grass
plume head
plume holder
plume-holder
plumeless
plumelet
plumelike
plume moth
plume nutmeg
plume poppy
plumery
plumeseed
plume tail
plumist
plumy
prince's plume
pull someone's plumes
semiplume
Silver Plume
Spanish plume
superplume
warrior's plume
Related terms: plumage
plumaged