▪ I. plume, n.
(pluːm)
Also 6 plome.
[a. OF. plume:—L. plūma a small soft feather, down.
OE. had (a 1050 in Lib. Scintill.) pl{uacu}m-feðer, down, from L. plūma; but this has no historical connexion with the ME. and mod. word.]
1. a. A feather; now chiefly poet. and rhet.; also, a large or conspicuous feather, such as are used for personal adornment, as a plume of an ostrich or egret; in Ornith. a contour-feather, as distinguished from a plumule.
| 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 49 Thanne cometh..Anoþer proud partriche.. And sesith on hir sete, with hir softe plumes. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. vi. 113 My feris lost, with plumys in the ayr As thame best lykis ar fleand our alquhair. 1552 Huloet, Plume, pluma, et plumula, a very yonge fether. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 37 Contemplation makes a rare Turkey Cocke of him, how he iets vnder his aduanc'd plumes. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 286 Like Maia's son he stood, And shook his Plumes. 1754 Gray Poesy 22 With ruffled plumes and flagging wing. 1851 Times 3 Sept. 7/2 The Trogon resplendens clad in golden iridescent green, with long lax flowing plumes. 1893 Newton Dict. Birds 241 The dorsal plumes of the Egrets. |
b. fig. With various reference to the feathers of birds as used in flight, displayed in pride, raised or ruffled in excitement, or borrowed in pretentious display (as the peacock's plumes assumed by the jackdaw in the fable).
| 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iii. iii. 7 Let frantike Talbot triumph for a while, And like a Peacock sweepe along his tayle, Wee'le pull his Plumes, and take away his Trayne. 1606 Sir G. Goosecappe i. iv. in Bullen O. Pl. III. 22 Farre above the pitch of my low plumes. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 4 They stole them out of holy Writ, and pride themselves in the plumes of a Prophet indeed. 1642 R. Carpenter Experience iii. iv. 20 If we but glaunce upon the knowledge of our selves, our plumes fall, and we begin to be humble. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. xxvi. (1653) 185 Let him that flatters himself to raise good Clover upon barren heathy Land..pull down his Plumes after two or three years experience, unless he devise a new way of Husbandry. 1802 Med. Jrnl. VIII. 268 In the process of his examination, he is stripped of his borrowed plumes. 1850 Kingsley Alt. Locke xxxii, My soul..in the rapid plumes of song Clothed itself sublime and strong. |
2. a. Downy plumage, down; plumage generally.
† of a plume:
cf. of a feather,
feather n. 2 c.
| 1552 Huloet, Thystle toppe, whych is lyke plume, pappus. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 280 A second commoditie that Geese yeeld..is their plume and downe. For in some places their soft feathers are pluckt twice a yeare. 1633 Latham Falconry Words Art Expl., Plume is the generall colour or mixtures of feathers in a Hawke, which sheweth her constitution. 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 21 To interdict him with the Earls of Somerset, Middlesex, Bristow, (all of an inclination, though not all of a plume). 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 186 The Bird of Jove..Two Birds of gayest plume before him drove. 1812 J. Wilson Isle of Palms iii. 600 Vaunt not, gay bird! thy gorgeous plume. 1870 Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 312 The lower barbs in feathers are usually loose, and form the down, which is called the ‘accessory plume’. |
b. The web or vane of a quill; the feathering of an arrow.
| 1808 Pike Sources Mississ. ii. (1810) 150 They buried the arrow to the plume in the animal. 1883 D. C. Murray Hearts III. 38 Carroll held a quill pen in his hand... The hand looked steady, but the quivering plume told how tense the nerves were. |
3. a. An ornament, usually symbolizing dignity or rank, consisting of a large feather or bunch of feathers, or a waving feather-like tuft or bunch of hair, etc.;
esp. when attached to a helmet, hat, or other head-dress as an aigrette or crest, or worn in the hair, as the
court plume of ostrich feathers; also borne in processions and used at funerals.
† plume of feathers: see
feather n. 8 b.
| 1530 Palsgr. 256/1 Plome of oystrydge fethers, plummart. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. IV 12 One parte had their Plumes all white, another had them all redde. 1607 Shakes. Cor. iii. iii. 126 Your Enemies, with nodding of their Plumes Fan you into dispaire. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 42 ¶1 The ordinary Method of making an Hero, is to clap a huge Plume of Feathers upon his Head. 1822 Byron Werner v. i, We will lay Aside these nodding plumes and dragging trains. 1832 Tennyson Lady of Shalott ii. iv, A funeral, with plumes and lights And music. 1845 Disraeli Sybil ii. ii, His hat white with a plume of white feathers. 1848 W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc's Hist. Ten Y. I. 335 The grenadiers flung away their black plumes. |
b. fig. (
Cf. a feather in one's cap.)
| 1605 Camden Rem. 3 It was accounted one of the fairest and most glorious Plumes in the triumphant Diademe of the Roman Empire. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 161 Well thou comst Before thy fellows, ambitious to win From me som Plume. 1848 De Quincey Pope Wks. 1858 IX. 14 An error in which Pope himself participated, that his plume of distinction from preceding poets consisted in correctness. |
c. Self-satisfaction, triumph.
rare.
| 1910 W. De Morgan Affair of Dishonour iv. 66 He wanted..to choose his time, as a nobleman might then do..not only without shame or remorse, but even with some sense of plume or strut. |
4. transf. Anything resembling the down of feathers or a feather, in form or in lightness.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 239 The plume or downe which it beareth,..cureth the inordinat flux of waterish humors into the eies. 1810 Southey Kehama iv. iv, The shadow of the Cocoa's lightest plume Is steady on the sand. 1859 G. Meredith R. Feverel xx, The plumes of the woodland are alight. 1870 Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 357 A boy's figure,..with a curling plume of hair. |
b. Bot. (
a) A plumose pappus or other appendage of a seed, by which it floats away;
† (
b)
= plumule 1 (
obs.).
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xxiv. 36 Which [flowers] at length do turne into downe, or Cotton, and the plume is carried away with the winde. 1671 Grew Anat. Plants i. §14 The Plume is that Part which becomes the Trunk of the Plant. Ibid., These three Parts, sc. the Main Body, the Radicle, and the Plume, are concurrent to the making up of a Seed. 1688 J. Clayton in Phil. Trans. XVII. 947 If gleamy Weather happen at that time, it breeds a small Flie, which consumes the Plume of the Plant. 1766 Compl. Farmer s.v. Malt, Malt which has not had a sufficient time to shoot, so that its plume, or acrospire as the adepts in malting call it, may have reached to the inward skin of the barley, remains charged with too large a quantity of it's unattenuated oils. 1813 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. iii. (1814) 70 In every seed there is to be distinguished 1. the organ of nourishment. 2. the nascent plant or the plume. |
c. Zool. A plumose or feather-like part or formation, as a plumate hair of an insect, a ciliated or branchiate organ of a crustacean or mollusc, a plume-like tuft of zoophytes, etc.
| 1834 M{supc}Murtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 487 There is a double range of numerous tentacula on the mouth, curved into a half moon, forming a plume of that figure. Ibid., The species are very numerous in fresh water... They form bushes, arbuscles, plumes, &c. &c. 1846 Patterson Zool. 19 A single plume of a species found upon our shores has been estimated to contain 500. 1880 Huxley Crayfish ii. 78 This stem [on the gills] divides into two parts, that in front, the plume, resembling the free end of one of the gills. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 182 The stem of the branchia bends at right angles to this base and divides into an apical plume and a lamina. The free extremity of the plume is simple and filiform. |
d. Astron. A plume-like projection of the solar corona.
| 1887 Lockyer Chem. Sun 441 There is an exquisite tracery curved in opposite directions, consisting of plumes or panaches. 1902 Mrs. W. Maunder in Knowledge Feb. 33 In an eclipse like that of May 1901 the polar regions are left absolutely free [of synclinal rays] except for the beautiful and regular tufts of light which have earned for themselves the appropriate name of ‘plumes’ or ‘panaches’. |
† e. Confectionery. One of the degrees in boiling sugar;
= feather n. 13.
Obs. [F.
plume.]
| 1658 Sir T. T. de Mayerne Archimag. Anglo-Gall. §156. 107 Seeth your sugar untill the plume or skin appear. |
f. (
i) A long streamer of smoke, vapour, or other fluid issuing from a localized source in the same or a different fluid and spreading out as it travels,
esp. one with a degree of buoyancy in the ambient medium.
| 1878 Stevenson Edinburgh (1889) 25 The long plume of smoke over the plain. 1947 Q. Jrnl. R. Meteorol. Soc. LXXIII. 428 Smoke plumes from factory chimneys. 1955 Trans. Amer. Soc. Mech. Engineers LXXVII. 1/1 Under favorable weather conditions the plume from a smoke⁓stack will rise gradually as it flows downwind and the gases will be dispersed until only a negligible concentration prevails in the atmosphere. 1969 Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. I. 30 Turbulent plumes (like jets) have a sharp boundary between the turbulent buoyant fluid and the surroundings; they increase their width through..entrainment of external fluid across this boundary by large eddies. 1970 Nature 7 Nov. 545/2 Ball lightning does not rise like hot air nor is it disrupted by convection into a thermal plume as are hot fireballs. 1975 New Yorker 12 May 70/3 At discharge, how fast should it come out, and at what level? Would fish die in the thermal plume? 1975 J. L. Pavoni et al. Handbk. Solid Waste Disposal iii. 127 Water vapor plumes are caused when the relative humidity of the effluent gas stream is significantly higher than the relative humidity of the ambient air around an incinerator chimney. 1977 Daily Tel. 25 Apr. 1/1 The awesome plumbing job..involves stuffing a 12 inch rubber plug into an 18-inch diameter well to staunch a plume of oil and gas sprouting 200 ft into the air. |
(
ii)
Geol. A column of magma rising from the lower mantle and spreading sideways on reaching the base of the lithosphere, proposed as an explanation of the motion of lithospheric plates and of sites of volcanic activity away from plate margins.
| 1971 W. J. Morgan in Nature 5 Mar. 42/2, I now propose that these hotspots are manifestations of convection in the lower mantle which provides the motive force for continental drift. In my model there are about twenty deep mantle plumes bringing heat and relatively primordial material up to the asthenosphere and horizontal currents in the asthenosphere flow radially away from each of these plumes. 1975 Sci. Amer. Mar. 62/1 According to this argument, all upward movement of mantle material is confined to about 20 plumes, each plume a few hundred kilometers in diameter, rising from the core⁓mantle boundary. 1976 P. Francis Volcanoes i. 49 The plume effectively burns a hole through the overlying crustal plate..and a volcano results. |
5. Short for
plume-moth: see 6.
| 1819 G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 409 Pterophorus pentadactylus. The large white Plume. 1832 J. Rennie Butterflies & Moths 231 The Six-cleft Plume (Alucita hexadactyla, Haworth). |
6. attrib. and
Comb., as
plume-feather,
plume-maker,
plume-trade;
plume-bearing,
plume-crowned,
plume-decked,
plume-dressed,
plume-embroidered,
plume-fronted,
plume-soft,
plume-uplifting,
plume-waving adjs.;
plume alum, a pseudo-alum crystallizing in tufts of silky fibres: see
alum n. 4;
plume-bearer = plume-holder;
plume-bird, a bird with conspicuous plumes, such as are used for ornament;
spec. a bird of paradise of the subfamily Epimachinæ;
plume-bouquet, a loosely constructed, spray-shaped bouquet;
plume-dark a., dark with the feathers of flying birds;
plume-grass, a grass of the genus
Erianthus, having a plume-like inflorescence, a Woolly Beard-grass;
plume-holder, that which holds a plume,
spec. a small tube attached to a helmet for that purpose;
plume-hunter, a man who kills wild birds to supply the plume trade;
plume-moth, any species of the family Pterophoridæ (Alucitidæ), small moths whose wings are divided into feathery lobes;
plume-nutmeg, a tree of the family Atherospermaceæ (see
quots.);
esp. the Tasmanian Sassafras,
Atherosperma moschata;
plume-plucked a., stripped of plumes, humbled: see 3 b;
plume-stick, a small stick surmounted by a feather, used in religious rites by certain American Indians;
† plume-striker: see
quot.;
plume-thistle, a thistle having a feathery pappus, as
Carduus lanceolatus and the genera
Cirsium and
Cnicus.
| [c 1530 Hickscorner in Hazl. Dodsley I. 178 He..privily spake To a prentice..for a halfpenny worth of *alum plumb.] 1780 J. T. Dillon Trav. Spain (1781) 378 The white stone called plume alum, or pseudo asbestus. 1812 J. Smyth Pract. of Customs (1821) 21 Plume Alum is a kind of natural Alum, composed of a sort of threads or fibres, resembling feathers, whence it has its name. |
| 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 869 Infinite wings! till all the *plume-dark air And rude-resounding shore are one wild cry. |
| 1857 G. Thornbury Songs Cavaliers & Roundheads 300 Two crones..Stood by a *plume-decked bed. |
| 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 210 Upon his head an old Scotch cap he wore, With a *plume feather all to peeces tore. |
| 1876 J. R. Planché Cycl. Costume I. 402 *Plume-holder. 1894 Daily News 1 Jan. 5/6 The armet having been strained to close it over a plume-holder above the nape of the neck. |
| 1898 Nat. Science June 369 The most destructive agencies are sportsmen, *plume-hunters, boys after eggs. |
| 1819 G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. Index, *Plume moth. |
| 1857 Henfrey Bot. 365 The nuts are enclosed in the tube of the perianth, and the persistent styles grow out into feathery awns, whence the plants are called *Plume-nutmegs. 1866 Treas. Bot., Atherospermaceæ (Plume Nutmegs). A small natural order of trees from Australia and Chili, deriving their English name from their aromatic nuts being furnished with a permanent style, clothed with long hairs. |
| 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iv. i. 108, I come to thee From *plume-pluckt Richard, who with willing Soule Adopts thee Heire. |
| 1812 W. Tennant Anster F. iii. v, They turn their *plume-soft bosoms to the morn. |
| 1882 N.Y. Tribune 5 Mar., The prayers..were addressed directly to the *plume-sticks, which were placed one by one in the bottom of the hole, the feathers standing upright. |
| 1658 Phillips, A *Plumestriker, a parasite, or flatterer, so called from pulling hairs, or feathers off from other mens Cloakes. |
| 1844 Stephens Bk. Farm III. 942 In pastures, the biennial spear *plume-thistle, Cnicus lanceolatus, is prevalent. 1882 J. Hardy in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. No. 3. 468 The melancholy plume thistle (Carduus heterophyllus) was very prevalent. |
| 1819 Shelley Prometh. Unb. ii. ii. 53 A *plume-uplifting wind. |
| 1848 Buckley Iliad 99 But him, *plume-waving Hector answered not. |
▪ II. plume, v. (
pluːm)
Also 4–5
plewme, 5
plomme.
[a. OF. plumer to pluck (a bird) (12th c. in Godef.), to pull out (hair), pillage, f. plume plume n. In branch II, f. plume n. or ad. L. plūmāre to cover with feathers, embroider, intr. to become fledged.] I. † 1. intr. In
Falconry: To pluck the feathers of its prey, as a hawk;
const. upon,
on.
Obs.| 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles ii. 163 Than bated he boldeliche, as a bird wolde, To plewme on his pray þe pol ffro þe nekk. c 1430 Bk. Hawkyng in Rel. Ant. I. 297 While the hawke plumyth on the pertrich. 1486 Bk. St. Albans C viij, She plommyth when she pullith federis of ony fowle or of any thyng and castys hem from her. 1575 Turberv. Falconrie 125 Lette hir grype and seaze the praye at hir pleasure, and lette hir also plume thereupon as long as she will. 1667 Dryden Maiden Queen iii. i, Look, how he peeps about, to see if the coast be clear; like an hawk that will not plume, if she be looked on. |
| fig. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 312 One of these at the Sea in a Navie of common vessels, being able to make havocke, to plume, and to pray upon the best of them at her owne pleasure. 1577 Fenton Gold. Epist. 164 Beeing so possest by straunge women, where they haue no possibilitie to marry with you, they will plume vpon you, till they haue left you neyther fether nor flesh. |
2. trans. To pluck, ‘case’ (a bird); hence, to strip, bare. Now
rare.
| 1599 T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 21 No Caterpillers..To rauish leaues, or tender buddes to plume. 1602 Heywood Woman killed w. Kindness Wks. 1874 II. 98 Char. [to the Falconer]. Now she hath seis'd the Fowle, and gins to plume her, Rebecke her not. 1616 B. Jonson Devil an Ass iv. iv, Madame, you take your Hen, Plume it, and skin it, cleanse it o' the inwards. 1706 Phillips, To Plume, to pick, or pluck the Feathers off. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xii, I will so pluck him as never hawk plumed a partridge. 1852 R. F. Burton Falconry in Valley of Indus vi. 67 note, A few victims..which she is allowed to..tire and plume as much as she pleases. |
† b. To pluck (feathers) from a bird. Also
fig.| 1524 J. Clerk in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 309 Ther shold be fownd manye ryght mean powars in Italy that wold plume his fethers. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. i. 920 A numerous faction..In Sanhedrins to plume the regal rights. |
† c. fig. To ‘pluck’, despoil, rob, plunder.
Obs.| 1571 Satir. Poems Reform. xxviii. 82 Without respect to God or feir of faith, Plumand, but pietie I did oppres the pure. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII 111 To say ‘That the King cared not to plume his Nobilitie and People, to feather himselfe’. 1667 Dryden Maiden Queen ii. i, One whom instead of banishing a day, You should have plum'd of all his borrow'd honours. 1760 Impostors Detected iii. v, One of the ladies who had the day before so finely plumed our missionaries. |
II. 3. trans. To furnish or cover with plumes, feathers, or plumage; to fledge, feather; to adorn with a plume or plumes. Also
fig.| 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. xciv, With wingis bright, all plumyt,..There sawe I sitt the blynde god Cupide. 1588 Greene Pandosto (1607) 10 Report is plumed with times feathers. 1627 tr. Bacon's Life & Death (1651) 10 The Swan..is a Bird excellently plumed. 1754 Mrs. Delany in Life & Corr. (1862) 285 How many girls, that have plumed, and tiffed, perhaps turned down their hats, for him, will be disappointed! 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. ii. i. 54 It was necessary..to have several arrows.., plumed with feathers from different wings, to suit the diversity of the winds. 1832 Tennyson Œnone 205 My dark tall pines, that plumed the craggy ledge High over the blue gorge. |
b. To set or place as a plume.
rare.
| 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 989 His stature reacht the Skie, and on his Crest Sat horror Plum'd. |
4. refl. a. Of a bird: To dress its feathers.
b. To dress oneself with borrowed plumes. Chiefly
fig.| 1702 S. Parker tr. Cicero's De Finibus v. 293 The Masters of the Porch..have plum'd themselves from the Peripateticks and Academicks, that is, they have taken their Sense of Things to themselves, and impos'd new Turns of their own Devising. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 264 Swans..being a large Fowl, must not be kept in a strait place,..but in some inclosed Pond where they may have room to come ashore and plume themselves. 1744 Parsons Muscular Motion i. 12 in Phil. Trans. XLIII, Authors..who, by pluming themselves with his Feathers, had monopolized much..Attention. 1763 C. Johnston Reverie II. 144 When he has plumed himself in the merit of them for a while, I'll strip the gawdy daw of his stolen feathers. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. xi, Like a veritable cock of the walk literally pluming himself in the midst of his possessions. |
c. fig. Usually with
on,
upon (
† for,
† in,
† over,
† with): To take credit to oneself, pride oneself, congratulate oneself, show self-satisfaction,
esp. regarding something trivial, ridiculous, or unworthy, or to which one has no just claim.
| 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. §8, I have seen a Grammarian towr and plume himself over a single line in Horace, and shew more pride in the construction of one Ode, than the Author in the composure of the whole book. 1699 Bentley Phal. 388 Admiring and pluming himself for that glorious Emendation. 1715 South Serm. VI. 118 Pluming and praising himself, and telling fulsome stories in his own commendation. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters II. 58 Some gentlemen..have plumed themselves upon introducing a more frequent use of sea water. 1760 Hooper in Priv. Lett. Ld. Malmesbury (1870) I. 83, I am told the Duke of Bedford plumes himself with hopes of great support. 1775 S. J. Pratt Liberal Opin. cvi. (1783) IV. 17, I see nothing wherein to plume ourselves, as to that prerogative. 1823 Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 265 The atheist here plumes himself on the uselessness of such a God. 1884 J. Payn Lit. Recoll. 25 N. plumed himself on his judgment of sheep. |
† 5. intr. = 4 c.
Obs.| 1707 Hearne Collect. 30 Aug. (O.H.S.) II. 39 A certain Gent..plumes a little. 1715 M. Davies Athen. Brit. I. 140 Our modern Arians plum'd also upon the unnecessary Heats of two English Doctors. 1753 Mrs. Delany in Life & Corr. (1861) III. 221 Mrs. C. plumes extremely upon it. |
6. trans. To preen, trim, or dress (the feathers or wings); to prepare for flight. Also
fig.| 1821 Byron Heav. & Earth iii. 222 The winds, too, plume their piercing wings. 1859 G. Meredith R. Feverel xii, Pluming a smile upon his succulent mouth. 1867 ‘Ouida’ C. Castlemaine (1879) 17 Herons plumed their silvery wings by the water-side. 1874 Motley Barneveld I. v. 273 And calumny plumed her wings for a fresh attack. 1878 M. A. Brown Nadeschda 26 She sits there..Pluming daintily her feathers. |
▪ III. plume obs. form of
plumb.