| 释义 |
plum
I. \ˈpləm\ noun
(-s)
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English plum, plumme, plowme plum, plum tree, from Old English plūme; akin to Old High German pflūmo plum tree; both from a prehistoric West Germanic word borrowed from Latin prunum plum, from Greek proumnon
1.
a. : any of numerous trees and shrubs of the genus Prunus that have medium-sized globular to oval smooth-skinned fruits which are drupes enclosing a smooth elongated flattened seed and that include various improved forms cultivated for their fruits or for their ornamental flowers or foliage — compare cherry, peach; see damson, greengage, prune
b. : the fruit of a plum
c. : the streaked hard small-pored reddish brown wood of a plum tree especially of the common European plum used to a limited extent for small cabinetwork and turnery
2.
a. : any of various trees with edible fruits resembling plums: as
(1) : a tree of the genus Spondias — see hog plum
(2) : persimmon
(3) : a tree of the genus Flacourtia — see governor's plum
b. : the fruit of such a tree
c. chiefly New England : any of various edible berries (as a partridgeberry, Juneberry, or huckleberry)
3.
a. : a raisin when used in puddings or other dishes
b. : sugarplum
4.
a. archaic : the sum of £100,000 sterling
< worth half a plum — Richard Steele >
b. : something excellent or superior of its kind (as a choice passage in a book or an unusually good position)
< a fellowship that was the history department's plum >
— compare lemon
c. : something desirable received or available as a recompense for service especially through political patronage
< a senator with several plums at his disposal >
d. : an unexpected increment of property or money : windfall — compare melon
5. : a stone or mass of rock embedded in a matrix of a different kind (as a pebble in a conglomerate); especially : large stone added to concrete after mixing and placing but before hardening
6.
a. : a variable color averaging a dark reddish purple that is bluer and duller than grape wine or royal purple (sense 1) and less strong and slightly darker than imperial
b. : a dark purple that is bluer, stronger, and slightly lighter than average prune, redder and duller than mulberry (sense 2a) and redder and less strong than mulberry purple
II. intransitive verb
(plummed ; plummed ; plumming ; plums)
Etymology: Middle English plumen
dialect chiefly England : rise, swell
III.
variant of plumb
IV. adjective
1. dialect England : rounded out : plump
2. dialect England, of a drink : mild, smooth, and mellow |