plume
/pluːm
/noun
1A long, soft feather or arrangement of feathers used by a bird for display or worn by a person for ornament: a hat with a jaunty ostrich plume...
- Ornamental bird plumes, by weight, were more valuable than gold.
- The highly modified courtship plumes found in many species of birds of paradise are only one extreme of the diversity of courtship plumes found in birds.
- Bird plumes, which were used to adorn women's hats and other items in the fashion industry, were worth more than gold.
Synonyms
feather, crest, quill
technical plumule
literary pinion
1.1 Zoology A part of an animal’s body that resembles a feather: the antennae are divided into large feathery plumes...
- The creature had a large plume of strands on its head pointing upwards and its body appeared silvery and reflective.
2A long cloud of smoke or vapour resembling a feather as it spreads from its point of origin: as he spoke, the word was accompanied by a white plume of breath...
- She hung up, switched on the television, and saw plumes of white smoke etched against the blue Texas sky.
- All they could see from where they were was a massive dust cloud and plumes of black smoke.
- All the journalists in the house - three of us - ran outside to see a white plume of smoke rising close by in the north.
2.1A mass of material, typically a pollutant, spreading from a source: a radioactive plume...
- The plume contained toxic pollutants, possibly cyanide, from foam, oil, acrylic paints and tyres burnt in the blaze.
- Methane gas plumes are also attributed to at least one plane disappearing, because it exploded when it entered the plume.
- Regardless of the type of evacuation system used, the capture device should be placed as close as possible to the source of the plume.
3 (also mantle plume) Geology A localized column of hotter magma rising by convection in the mantle, believed to cause volcanic activity in locations away from plate margins.The wide distribution of the volcanics implies that a mantle plume was present beneath northern Australia in the past....
- The spatial and chronological evolution of the Canary Islands' volcanism is due to eastward progression of the slow-moving African plate over a mantle plume.
- Although it is paradoxical that Iceland's hottest region boasts its biggest ice cap, it is no coincidence: the ice sheet is huge and permanent precisely because lava flowing from the mantle plume has built the mountains so high.
verb
1 [no object] Spread out in a shape resembling a feather: smoke plumed from the chimneys...
- Thick columns of boiling brown smoke are pluming from somewhere among the tower blocks in the centre.
- Fire raged through the compound, smoke pluming up above it all.
- He could see the smoke pluming up from the fires of the camp, but neither the fires nor tents were visible yet.
1.1 [with object] Decorate with or as if with feathers: (as adjective plumed) rain began to beat down on my plumed cap...
- The trappings of male finery included plumed helmets, heavy epaulettes, long swords, tassels, braid, knee-high boots, gleaming escutcheons, white gloves, white trousers.
- Headdresses were extravagantly plumed helmets or crowns fusing baroque and classical styles.
- It had a thin plumed mane of red and black across the top of the helmet fanning out like the feathers of a peacock.
2 (plume oneself) chiefly archaic (Of a bird) preen itself.On alighting, which it does plumply, it immediately bends its body, turns its head to look behind it, performs a curious nod, utters its note, then shakes and plumes itself,...
- The Florida Cormorant is especially addicted to this practice, and dives and plumes itself several times in the day.
2.1Feel a great sense of self-satisfaction about something: she plumed herself on being cosmopolitan...
- They made endless shrill distinctions and plumed themselves on their beauty and education and sensitivity.
- All men plume themselves on the improvement of society, and no man improves.
- ‘I could not but highly plume myself on my masterly management in getting rid of Bartleby.’
Synonyms
congratulate oneself, pat oneself on the back, pride oneself, preen oneself, feel proud about, feel self-satisfied about, boast about
archaic pique oneself
Derivatives
plumeless
- Currently there are six noxious weeds in Nebraska, including Canada thistle, plumeless thistle, musk thistle, leafy spurge, spotted knapweed, and diffuse knapweed.
plume-like
- On the image returned three hours later, these clouds had combined to form a plume-like feature similar to the one seen the previous day.
- It has plume-like seed heads, which appear after the flowers and give a long-lasting, smoky haze to branch tips.
plumery
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin pluma 'down'.
Plume and plumage come via French from Latin pluma ‘down, soft feather’. The Latin was borrowed at an early date into many Germanic languages, probably because from Roman times there was an important trade between these northern lands and the south in warm, soft goose down for stuffing pillows and duvets. From the late 16th century plume was used to describe various objects resembling a feather such as a plume of smoke.
Rhymes
- parapenter
- parapet
- parapetalous
- parapeted
- parapetless
- parapet line
- parapet wall
- paraph
- paraphasia
- paraphasic
- paraphenylenediamine
- parapherna
- paraphernal
- paraphernalia
- paraphernaul
- paraphilia
- paraphiliac
- paraphilic
- paraphimosis
- paraphimotic
- paraphonic
- paraphrasability
- paraphrasable
- paraphrase
- paraphraser