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plume

UK/ˈpluːm/ US/ˈpljuːm/ uncommon archaic literary obsolete
noun (2) verb (6)

noun

1.

a feather or cluster of feathers worn as an ornament

2.

the light horny waterproof structure forming the external covering of birds

Synonyms

verb

1.
2.

be proud of

  • “He prides himself on making it into law school”
Synonyms
3.

deck with a plume

  • “a plumed helmet”
4.

clean with one''s bill

  • “The birds preened”
Synonyms
5.

form a plume

  • “The chimneys were pluming the sky”
  • “The engine was pluming black smoke”
6.

dress or groom with elaborate care

  • “She likes to dress when going to the opera”
Synonyms

Origin

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).

Phrases

  • adorn oneself with borrowed plumes
  • Apache plume
  • plume alum
  • plume grass
  • plume head
  • plume holder
  • plume moth
  • plume nutmeg

Related words

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Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.