plume
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpluːm/
ipa: /ˈpljuːm/
ipa: /ˈplum/
rhymes: -uːm
Forms: form: plumes
form: pluming
form: plumed
form: plumed
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: plume
form: plume
form: plumed
form: plume
form: plumest
form: plumed
form: plumedst
form: plumes
form: plumeth
form: plumed
form: plume
form: plumed
form: plume
form: plumed
form: plume
form: -
form: pluming
form: plumed
Etymology: Sense 1 (“to adorn, cover, or furnish with feathers or plumes”) is derived from Anglo-Norman plumer (“to cover with or provide with feathers”), or its etymon Latin plūmāre, the present active infinitive of plūmō (“to grow feathers, to fledge; to cover with feathers, to feather; to embroider with a feathery pattern”) (and compare Late Latin plūmō (“to attach feathers to arrows; of a hawk: to pluck the feathers from prey; (figurative) to celebrate, praise”)), from plūma (“feather; plumage; down”) (see etymology 1) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).
Senses 2–4 (“to arrange and preen the feathers of; to congratulate (oneself) proudly; to strip of feathers”) are from Late Middle English plumen (“to remove the feathers from a bird; of a hawk: to pluck the feathers or the head from prey”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman and Middle French plumer (“to remove the feathers from a bird; to pull out (hairs, especially from a moustache); to rob”), from plūma (see etymology 1).
Sense 5 (“to fan out or spread in a cloud”) is derived from plume (noun).
Senses: synonyms: feather
fledge
glosses: To adorn, cover, or furnish with feathers or plumes, or as if with feathers or plumes.
examples: text: I make no doubt she has made the best of her way back to the hospitable hall of Sir Watkyn Williams Wynne; and may very possibly be pluming her wings, at this present writing, among the breezy bowers of Wynnstay.
ref: 1822 May 21, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Hawking”, in Bracebridge Hall, or The Humourists. A Medley. […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: […] C. S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 185:
text: I bless thee that thy angel-presence still infolds me here! / Forgive me, ere thy spirit plumest for the heavenly sphere.
ref: 1854 January, J. D. Bell, “Lines. Inscribed to My Mother.”, in D[avis] W[asgatt] Clark, editor, The Ladies’ Repository: A Monthly Periodical, Devoted to Literature and Religion, volume XIV, Cincinnati, Oh.: L. Swormstedt and A. Poe; […], →OCLC, page 38, column 2:
text: [...] Ruth resembled the dove that plumeth its wings in readiness to fly away and be at rest, in the ark of everlasting peace and joy.
ref: 1870 September, J. C. H., “The Story of Ruth. A Modern Version.”, in Dublin University Magazine, a Literary and Political Journal, volume LXXVI, number CCCCLIII, Dublin: George Herbert, […]; London: Hurst and Blackett, →OCLC, page 290, column 1:
text: Victor Love—His far dominion / Owneth with proud glance, / See, he plumeth now his pinion, / Wakeneth from his trance; [...]
ref: [1873], L[aura] L[ouisa] McL[auchlan] B[ackler], “Love and the Maiden”, in Light and Shadow, London: S. W. Partridge and Co., […], →OCLC, page 37:
glosses: Chiefly of a bird: to arrange and preen the feathers of, specifically in preparation for flight; hence (figurative), to prepare for (something).
examples: text: He plumes himself on his skill.
text: pride and plume himself in his Deformities
ref: 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
text: We mention this Obſervation, not with any View of pretending to account for ſo odd a Behaviour, but lest ſome Critic should hereafter plume himſelf on diſcovering it.
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, “The Adventure of a Company of Officers”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VII, page 102:
text: Gentlemen of the free-and-easy sort, who plume themselves on being acquainted with a move or two, and being usually equal to the time-of-day, express the wide range of their capacity for adventure by observing that they are good for anything from pitch-and-toss to manslaughter; between which opposite extremes, no doubt, there lies a tolerably wide and comprehensive range of subjects.
ref: 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 75:
text: I could not but highly plume myself on my masterly management in getting rid of Bartleby.
ref: 1853 November–December, Herman Melville, “Bartleby”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC, page 37:
text: But now thy armour beauteous, / all brass-belaid and sparkling, / Among the Troïans is held: / for motley-helmed Hector / Across his shoulders bearing it / plumeth himself; nor deem I / Long shall he vaunt it; sith alsó / on him o'erhangeth slaughter.
ref: 1856, Homer, “Book XVIII”, in F[rancis] W[illiam] Newman, transl., The Iliad of Homer: Faithfully Translated into Unrhymed English Meter, London: Walton and Maberly, […], →OCLC, page 322, lines 130–133:
text: Meanwhile the young stranger had made his way through the crowd, but, as he passed, he heard all around him such words muttered as, "Look at the cockeril!" "Behold how he plumeth himself!"
ref: 1883, Howard Pyle, “How Sir Richard of the Lea Paid His Debts to Emmet”, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC, part fifth, page 180:
text: Challenger plumed himself like some unwieldy bird under the influence of flattery.
ref: 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disintegration Machine:
glosses: To congratulate (oneself) proudly, especially concerning something unimportant or when taking credit for another person's effort; to self-congratulate; to preen.
examples: text: the king cared not to plume his nobility
ref: 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:
text: They wou'd have plum'd his eagles on the field
ref: 1723, Elijah Fenton, Mariamne:
synonyms: unplume
glosses: To strip (a bird) of feathers; to pluck.
synonyms: unplume
glosses: To strip (a bird) of feathers; to pluck.
To peel, to strip completely; to pillage; also, to deprive of power.
examples: text: The hauke proineth when ſhe fetcheth oyle with her beake over the taile, and anointeth her feet and her fethers. She plumeth when ſhe pulleth fethers of anie foule and caſteth them from her.
ref: 1793, Samuel Johnson, George Steevens, “King Henry IV. Part I.”, in William Shakespeare, The Plays of William Shakespeare: […], volume VIII, London: […] T[homas] Longman, […], →OCLC, act I, scene i, page 366, footnote 3:
topics: falconry
hobbies
hunting
lifestyle
synonyms: unplume
glosses: To strip (a bird) of feathers; to pluck.
Of a hawk: to pluck the feathers from prey.
examples: text: Smoke plumed from his pipe, then slowly settled towards the floor.
glosses: Of a dispersed substance such as dust or smoke: to fan out or spread in a cloud.
Derived terms: word: plumed
word: replume
word: unplume
word: unplumed