Definitions for: Plum


[n] any of numerous varieties of small to medium-sized round or oval smooth-skinned fruit with a single pit
[n] any of several trees producing edible oval smooth-skinned fruit with a single hard stone
[adv] (slang) completely; used as intensifiers; "clean forgot the appointment"; "I'm plumb (or plum) tuckered out"
[adv] (informal) exactly; "fell plumb in the middle of the puddle"



Webster (1913) Definition: Plum, n.
Something likened to a plum in desirableness; a good or
choice thing of its kind, as among appointments, positions,
parts of a book, etc.


Plum, n. [AS. pl[=u]me, fr. L. prunum; akin to Gr. ?, ?.
Cf. Prune a dried plum.]
1. (Bot.) The edible drupaceous fruit of the {Prunus
domestica}, and of several other species of Prunus;
also, the tree itself, usually called plum tree.

The bullace, the damson, and the numerous varieties
of plum, of our gardens, although growing into
thornless trees, are believed to be varieties of the
blackthorn, produced by long cultivation. --G.
Bentham.



Note: Two or three hundred varieties of plums derived from
the Prunus domestica are described; among them the
greengage, the Orleans, the purple gage, or
Reine Claude Violette, and the German prune, are
some of the best known.

Note: Among the true plums are;

Beach plum, the Prunus maritima, and its crimson or
purple globular drupes,

Bullace plum. See Bullace.

Chickasaw plum, the American Prunus Chicasa, and its
round red drupes.

Orleans plum, a dark reddish purple plum of medium size,
much grown in England for sale in the markets.

Wild plum of America, Prunus Americana, with red or
yellow fruit, the original of the Iowa plum and several
other varieties. Among plants called plum, but of other
genera than Prunus, are;

Australian plum, Cargillia arborea and C. australis, of
the same family with the persimmon.

Blood plum, the West African H[ae]matostaphes Barteri.

Cocoa plum, the Spanish nectarine. See under Nectarine.


Date plum. See under Date.

Gingerbread plum, the West African {Parinarium
macrophyllum}.

Gopher plum, the Ogeechee lime.

Gray plum, Guinea plum. See under Guinea.

Indian plum, several species of Flacourtia.

2. A grape dried in the sun; a raisin.

3. A handsome fortune or property; formerly, in cant
language, the sum of [pounds]100,000 sterling; also, the
person possessing it.

Plum bird, Plum budder (Zo["o]l.), the European
bullfinch.

Plum gouger (Zo["o]l.), a weevil, or curculio ({Coccotorus
scutellaris}), which destroys plums. It makes round holes
in the pulp, for the reception of its eggs. The larva
bores into the stone and eats the kernel.

Plum weevil (Zo["o]l.), an American weevil which is very
destructive to plums, nectarines cherries, and many other
stone fruits. It lays its eggs in crescent-shaped
incisions made with its jaws. The larva lives upon the
pulp around the stone. Called also turk, and {plum
curculio}. See Illust. under Curculio.

Synonyms: clean, plum tree, plumb

See Also: beach plum, big-tree plum, bullace, Canada plum, cherry plum, common plum, damson, damson plum, drupe, edible fruit, fruit tree, genus Prunus, greengage, greengage plum, Japanese plum, myrobalan, myrobalan plum, Pacific plum, plum, plum, plum tree, Prunus, Prunus cerasifera, Prunus domestica, Prunus insititia, Prunus mexicana, Prunus nigra, Prunus salicina, Prunus subcordata, Sierra plum, sloe, stone fruit, Victoria plum, wild plum, wild plum tree

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