plushn.1adj.
/plʌʃ/, U.S. /pləʃ/ A. n.1† 2. In plural. Breeches made of plush, as worn by footmen. Obsolete.
1.
a. A rich fabric of silk, cotton, wool, or other material (or any of these combined), with a long soft nap, used esp. for upholstery, servants' livery, etc.; (also) a similar artificial or synthetic fabric.In quot. 1633 taken as the typical livery of a fool or clown.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [noun] > with pile or nap > plush
plush1590
pelluce1598
1590 in J. Arnold Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (1988) 264/2 A highe bodyed gowne with a traine of hare colour vellat lyned with Carnacion plushe.
1594 T. Nashe Vnfortunate Traveller sig. H4 The trappinges of his horse were pounced and boulstered out with rough plumed siluer plush.
?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads xxiv. 338 Wast coats of silke plush laying by.
1633 J. Shirley Bird in Cage v. i All places he is free of, and fooles it without blushing At Maskes and Playes, is not the Bayes thrust out, to let the plush in.
1682 N. O. tr. N. Boileau-Despréaux Lutrin iv. 71 A fair silk Cassock, richly lin'd with Plush.
1738 J. Munn Observ. Brit. Wool 5 Damasks, Russets, Everlasting, Cantiloons, Worsted Plush..with many other sorts of Plain and Figur'd Stuffs.
1785 W. Cowper Task i. 11 As yet black breeches were not, satin smooth, Or velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile.
1826 T. Hood Irish Schoolmaster ix, in Whims & Oddities 124 Below he wears the nether garb of males, Of crimson plush.
1881 C. C. Harrison Woman's Handiwork Mod. Homes iii. 191 Severely plain save for its dark cushion in maroon plush.
1941 B. Miller Farewell Leicester Square ii. 55 The table draped in its pall of dusty plush.
1990 M. Strand Continuous Life 17 You sit in the ruby plush of an ugly chair.
b. In extended use: a natural substance likened to plush, as feathers, fur, vegetation, etc.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [noun] > with pile or nap > plush > substance resembling
plusha1625
a1625 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Knight of Malta i. i, in Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Iiii4v/2 Oh my black swan, silkner then Signets plush.
1635 F. Quarles Emblemes iii. xiii. 173 The proud Summer meadow, which to day Weares her greene Plush; and is, to morrow, Hay.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. 117/1 Plush [is] the middle of..Marigolds, &c., of some termed..Thrummy heads; of others Hairy heads.
1719 J. Barker Bosvil & Galesia 21 For the soft Meadow Grass seem plush; as when We used to walk together kindly here.
1862 C. A. Johns Brit. Birds (1874) 56 Eggs, from which emerge..bodies enveloped in a soft plush of grey yarn.
1911 J. Muir My First Summer in Sierra 225 Each branch..thickly covered by the leaves, making a rich plush over all the tree.
1998 L. Forbes Bombay Ice (1999) 81 Our canal, a stripe of black between the steaming green plush of the paddies.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for legs > clothing for legs and lower body > [noun] > trousers > types of > breeches > other
sausage-hosea1637
buckskina1658
trouser breeches1724
Petershams1819
drab1821
trunks1825
plushes1838
puff breechesc1843
1838 C. Mathews Motley Bk. in Var. Writings (1843) 56 ‘I'd like to have you settle for those plushes and silk vesting!’ modestly suggested a little tailor.
1844 J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & Widows II. xxiv. 95 A footman in green plushes and a powdered head.
1852 R. S. Surtees Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour i. iii. 9 His lace-bedaubed coat, gold-gartered plushes, stockings, and buckled shoes.
3. slang (originally and chiefly U.S.).
a. on (also in) (the) plush: in comfort; in comfortable or prosperous circumstances.In early use sometimes spec. with reference to rail travel (cf. sense A. 3b).
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the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > sensuous pleasure > physical comfort > [adjective]
snug1630
cosy1728
comfortable1770
comfy1829
podded1889
on (also in) (the) plush1911
1911 Warren (Pa.) Evening Mirror 3 May 4/2 The trouble men say this beats riding ‘on the plush’ and waiting half a day for a train to return home after doing a short job.
1923 N. Anderson Hobo xiv. 202 By an unknown writer, ‘The Bum on the Rods and the Bum on the Plush’ states the case of labor against capital in the language and accents of the hobo.
1930 P. G. Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves ix. 226 He was, to all appearances, absolutely on plush. He ate well, slept well, was happily married.
a1945 T. Dreiser Newspaper Days (1991) lxiii. 450 To sit ‘on the plush’, as one slangy newspaper friend used to describe it, and gaze forth loftily over passing towns and fields.
1945 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 23 Mar. 20/3 The drive would be aimed chiefly against ‘the boys who live in the plush’ rather than the small taxpayer.
1991 P. J. O'Rourke Parl. of Whores (1992) 25 He was turning into a pol, another spoils-mongering highbinder and wire-puller, one more bum on the plush.
b. to ride the plush and variants: to travel in comparative comfort (originally spec. in a Pullman car or similarly appointed railway carriage).
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1911 [see sense A. 3a].
1912 L. Warren Curse of Tramp Life 123 I felt so strange, riding ‘the plush’ after so many long years.
1957 Reno (Nevada) Evening Gaz. 25 June My tour ladies rode the plush all the way down the Rhine.
1961 J. O'Hara Assembly 214 Two of my classmates from Baltimore were on the train, but riding day coach. The hell with them, I said. I'll ride the plush.
B. adj.
1.
a. Made of or consisting of plush; covered or upholstered in plush; (of a carpet, etc.) having a thick pile. Formerly also: †wearing plush (obsolete).
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > [adjective] > wearing specific material
woolwardc1315
under line (occasionally in line)c1330
fox-furred1592
furred1592
tuftaffeta1598
tissued?16..
satin1603
silk1603
russet1604
tuftaffety1612
plush1615
sericated1623
sheepskinned1628
silken1640
lawny1647
plushed1650
satined1652
harden1654
sackclotheda1656
bearskinned1694
well-furred?1707
furry1717
brocaded1767
flannelled1784
lawned1798
buckskinned1829
corduroyed1832
silked1837
silkened1841
friezy1849
fustianed1849
velveted1850
buffed1863
buckramed1880
craped1880
crapy1891
velveteened1896
mohaired1914
tweeded1921
tweedy1923
leather1961
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > [adjective] > types of furniture generally
standing1444
plush1615
Queen Elizabeth1673
occasional1749
Adametic1774
French-polished1836
upholstered1837
Adamish1838
Chippendale1855
Queen Anne1863
knock-down1875
Wellington chest1880
Adamesque1881
Sheraton1883
Hepplewhite1897
quaint1897
bombé1904
lowboy1915
Jacobean1918
overstuffed1922
spool1928
Williamsburg1931
thermed1952
stackable1958
Scandinavian1959
wall-to-wall1959
Populuxe1986
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [adjective] > with pile or nap > long > plush
plush1615
1615 R. Brathwait Comment upon Two Tales 19 Sir, You never read that Paul ever went in a Plush Cloak.
1631 B. Jonson New Inne Ode to Himself Braue plush, and veluet-men.
1678 G. Harvey Casus Medico-chirurgicus 143 Neither am I a meer Velvetier, that hath nothing but the Plush-jacket on his Back, to shew what Trade he is of.
1743 H. Fielding Jonathan Wild i. x, in Misc. III. 59 A blue Plush coat,..a smart Sleeve, and a cape.
1787 ‘G. Gambado’ Acad. Horsemen 16 Riding in black plush breeches.
1848 W. M. Thackeray Bk. Snobs vii. 28 Pea-green plush inexpressibles.
1887 Times 22 Dec. 16/3 (advt.) Handsome plush rugs, 54 inches by 24 inches, in crimson, gold, or bronze green.
1898 Cosmopolitan June 171/1 Other women from the plush seats on the outer edge of the circle, bent upon the whole moving mass of promenaders the same..gaze.
1935 R. Macaulay Personal Pleasures 135 Pointing us to seats in the middle of an eagerly gazing row of persons, past whom we push, to subside into plush chairs and eagerly gaze too.
1954 Council Bluffs (Iowa) Nonpareil 10 Oct. 9 a/1 (advt.) Plush rayon carpet. Very plush pile in choice of beautiful colors.
2004 Straight No Chaser Spring 30/2 The uniform was a twisted white cloth made of plush towelling, along with a sandal of raw leather.
b. spec. (originally and chiefly North American). Designating a children's toy, typically a toy animal, made of plush or a similar fabric and stuffed with a soft filling. Esp. in plush toy.See also plush horse n.
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society > leisure > entertainment > toy or plaything > soft toy > [noun]
soft toy1864
plush toy1886
stuffie1938
1886 Brooklyn Daily Eagle 29 Aug. 3/3 (advt.) Wanted—experienced hands to work on plush dogs; also, plenty of room for learners.
1887 Sunday Inter Ocean (Chicago) 20 Nov. 23/2 The plush dog and elephant are reinforced by..other animals now... These plush toys may be had from 25 cents up to $1.
1912 Geyer's Stationer 19 Sept. 9/2 Still another new feature in plush animals are the ‘All Voice’ toys, which growl, squeak or cry, no matter where you press them.
1976–7 Hamley's Catal. 66/3 A fully jointed soft plush teddy.
2008 New Yorker 21 Apr. 90/2 A kind of regression to my childhood bedroom and its community of plush toys: a fantasy of cuddliness.
2. Luxurious, sumptuous; expensively stylish.
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the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > splendour > [adjective] > sumptuous
richc1275
costful1340
costious1340
costlewa1387
costlya1400
costy?c1430
sumptuous1458
opimec1540
dapatical1623
pollucible1623
opiparous1628
lautitious1648
opimous1656
superb1669
plushy1884
plush1890
Ritzian1908
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > sensuous pleasure > luxury or luxurious living > [adjective] > luxurious (of things)
delicatec1400
delicious?c1450
fleshpot1535
lascivious1589
nice1621
mollitious1629
luxurious1650
luxuriant1671
voluptuous1816
de luxe1819
plushy1884
plush1890
1890 Harper's Mag. Mar. 649/1 If one were to pass his life in moving in a palace car from one plush hotel to another.
1927 in H. Wentworth & S. B. Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang (1960) 398/2 ‘Plush’ indicates..stylish.
1946 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 30 Oct. 1/2 The recently established plush eating place.
1971 Guardian 28 May 8/2 It was really plush, with 25 waitresses.
1996 L. Erdrich Tales of Burning Love 37 She hated..leaving her nest, a plush lair with an antique fireplace and tall, sexy vine-covered windows.
Compounds
C1. Parasynthetic.
plush-bottomed adj.
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1901 J. Conrad & F. M. Hueffer Inheritors xiii. 210 I sat on a plush-bottomed gilded chair.
2003 New Straits Times (Malaysia) (Nexis) 19 Mar. 6 The plush-bottomed chairs, with their turned legs and their stiff backs, were for show, not for comfort.
plush-bound adj.
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1882 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Daily Gaz. 1 Oct. 7/6 In the form of a silk plush bound book.
1997 Chattanooga (Minneapolis) Free Press (Nexis) 5 Oct. j1 No home parlor was complete without its plush-bound card album.
plush-capped adj.
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1876 G. M. Hopkins Wreck of Deutschland viii, in Poems (1967) 54 How a lush-kept plush-capped sloe Will, mouthed to flesh-burst, Gush!
2002 Florida Times-Union (Nexis) 23 Nov. v6 Umbrella cockatoos and myna birds add their voices to those of plush-capped jays from New Guinea.
plush-clad adj.
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1869 Putnam's Mag. May 529/1 The actual aristocracy, with its money-bags and its plush-clad flunkeys.
2000 M. Goldstein Landscape with Figures xi. 174 The new Knoedler's soon became a leading contemporary-art gallery, no longer a plush-clad sanctuary where one might find a Titian, a Rubens, a Veronese.
plush-coloured adj.
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1678 T. Jordan Triumphs of London 7 A Sky-colour'd Scarf Fringed with Silver, Plush-colourd Hose.
1934 S. V. Benét James Shore's Daughter i. 18 The elevator, which you worked by pulling a plush-colored rope.
2002 Soap & Cosmetics (Nexis) 1 Jan. 245 The line includes plush-colored mascara in deep purples and metallic bronzes.
plush-covered adj.
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1844 N. P. Willis in New Mirror 6 Apr. i.1/1 The shoe was taken off, and the other set in its place upon the plush-covered leg.
1989 Miller's Collectables Price Guide 1989–90 446/1 A cinnamon plush covered teddy bear, probably Steiff, some wear, growler inoperative.
plush-fitted adj.
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1938 L. MacNeice Zoo 227 Plush-fitted theatres.
plush-framed adj.
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1884 Sunday Gaz. (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 30 Nov. Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Nathan, city, plush framed beveled mirror.
1950 F. Lichten Decorative Art Victoria's Era 236 Blackberry vines straggled..across the hand-painted, plush-framed china plaques.
plush-wearing adj.
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1861 Englishwoman's Domestic Mag. 3 43 He paid handsome fees to his boot-cleaning, plush-wearing emissaries.
C2.
plush-copper n. Mineralogy a variety of cuprite occurring as fine hair-like crystals; = chalcotrichite n. at chalco- comb. form .
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the world > the earth > minerals > ore > [noun] > metal ore > copper ore > types of
red copper1507
misy1543
grey copper1590
yellow ore1630
grey orea1728
pitch ore1776
red copper ore1776
fahlerz1796
tile-ore1823
cuprite1850
lettsomite1850
velvet copper-ore1850
yellows1851
meneghinite1852
peacock copper1858
peacock ore1858
horseflesh ore1868
plush-copper1881
1881 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1880–1 9 164 Plush-copper, chalcotrichite, a fibrous red copper ore.
1977 A. Hallam Planet Earth 127 Cuprite crystals..are usually well-shaped octahedra or cubes, although the variety chalcotrichite (or ‘plush copper’) consists of fine, hair-like fibers.
plush-lined adj. lined with plush; (figurative) comfortable, ‘cushy’.
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1872 Life Colonel James Fisk 161 A rosewood, plush-lined case, containing thirteen specimens of highly-finished Missouri iron.
1946 P. Larkin Jill 184 The competition is very keen, because they're very, very plush-lined jobs.
1993 M. Roberts Daughters of House (BNC) 119 Léonie plucked out the brass weights from their deep plush-lined nests in the wooden box.
plush stitch n. Needlework a kind of stitch in worsted or wool work, forming projecting loops which can be cut so as to make a long nap as in plush.
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1869 Godey's Lady's Bk. Jan. 86 (heading) Foot cushion in plush stitch.
2002 Piecework Nov.–Dec. 30/1 The plush stitch produces loops that are later cut, combed, and sculpted with scissors to give the subject of the needlework the semblance of a third dimension.
plush velvet n. a kind of plush with a short nap, resembling velvet.
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1795 D. W. Barker Recital of Intelligence 117 Two Cases of Tortoise-shell, 3 Casks of returned Merchandize, and 5 Bales of Plush Velvet.
1851 G. Borrow Lavengro II. xxii. 196 A man in a long loose tunic of a stuff striped with black and yellow; breeches of plush velvet, silk stockings, and shoes with silver buckles.
1993 Harper's Mag. Feb. 46 Outside, very long cars are passing again with landau roofs and plush velvet.
plush velveteen n. a cotton fabric imitating silk plush.
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1890 Cent. Dict. 4571/2 Plush-velveteen.
1985 Capital (Annapolis, Maryland) 30 May 34/4 (advt.) Toss Pillows..choose quilted chintz, plush velveteen or embroidered type.
plush-weaver n. a weaver who produces plush.
ΚΠ
1848 W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc Hist. Ten Years II. 252 The plush-weavers..took into consideration a general stoppage of the looms.
2002 Providence (Rhode Island) Jrnl.-Bull. (Nexis) 7 Dec. b5 Mr. Sylvestre had been a plush weaver for the former Joan Plush Co. for many years before retiring 23 years ago.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
plushn.2
/plʌʃ/, U.S. /pləʃ/ Navy slang. Now chiefly historical.
A surplus, esp. that remaining after the rationing of grog or gravy amongst a ship's crew.
ΚΠ
1822 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 20/1 I won't be sung out of my grog by ere a one. I tells thee once more, that I'se only the plush, and that I be's entitled to, an't I now?
c1847 J. T. Downey Cruise of Portsmouth (1963) 219 I'll give you a thimble full when I serve out Grog tomorrow if there's any plush.
1911 ‘Guns Q.F.C.’ & ‘Phyl Theeluker’ Middle Watch Musings 97 Well, there ain't no chance of even makin' any rightful plush in nothin'.
1976 P. Kemp Oxf. Compan. Ships & Sea 654/1 Official instructions were that any plush after the daily issue was to be poured into the scuppers and allowed to run overboard to prevent anyone getting more than his ration, but seamen were adept at saving such waste.
1977 P. O'Brian Mauritius Command ix. 241 Only half the grog will be served out this spell: and no plush allowed.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
plushv.
/plʌʃ/, U.S. /pləʃ/ rare.† 1. transitive. To provide (a footman or the like) with a livery of plush. to plush it: to act as footman. Obsolete.
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society > authority > subjection > service > servant > personal or domestic servant > [verb (intransitive)] > act as liveried footman
to plush it1860
1860 R. S. Surtees Plain or Ringlets? lxxv. 290 All that was forgotten now, save when they plushed or powdered their footman, set up a dinner bell, or committed any other act of saltation against the peace of their longer retired neighbours' pride and dignity.
1867 W. H. L. Tester Poems 54 He plush'd it there for many a day.
2. intransitive. Of velvet: to have the nap crushed or flattened by pressure or because of retained moisture.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > [verb (intransitive)] > other
shrink1483
tattera1616
intermat1904
plush1904
1904 Daily Chron. 1 Sept. 8/5 Corduroy velvet would certainly look well, but it would be less suitable than the woollen on account of its greater weight and liability to ‘plush’ with damp or pressure.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1adj.1590
n.21822
v.1860