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plum

Pronunciation: /plʌm/
Translate plum | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of plum

noun

  • 1an oval fleshy fruit which is purple, reddish, or yellow when ripe and contains a flattish pointed stone.
  • [usually with modifier] West Indian a small edible fruit from any of a number of trees.
  • 2 (also plum tree) the deciduous tree which bears plums.
    • Several species in the genus Prunus, family Rosaceae, in particular P. domestica
  • 3 [mass noun] a reddish-purple colour: a pure silk shirt in shades of cream and soft plum [count noun]:rosy pinks, rich coppers, and deep plums are the big fashion news [as modifier]:a plum blazer
  • 4 [usually as modifier] informal a thing, typically a job, considered to be highly desirable:he landed a plum assistant producer’s job

adverb

chiefly US
  • variant spelling of plumb1.the helicopter crashed plum on the cabins

Phrases

have a plum in one's mouth

British have an accent thought typical of the English upper classes: an affable dilettante with a plum in his mouth

like a ripe plum (or ripe plums)

used to convey that something can be obtained with little or no effort:the country is likely to fall into the enemy’s hands like a ripe plum

Origin:

Old English plūme, from medieval Latin pruna, from Latin prunum (see prune1)

plum in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of plum in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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