Jump To:

• plum
  plum

  noun

  the drupaceous fruit of any of several trees belonging to the genus Prunus, of the rose family, having an oblong stone.
• Plum
  Plum

  noun

  a city in SW Pennsylvania.

plum

¹ American  

[pluhm] / plʌm /

noun

• plums
  plural

1. the drupaceous fruit of any of several trees belonging to the genus Prunus, of the rose family, having an oblong stone.

2. the tree itself.

3. any of various other trees bearing a plumlike fruit.

4. the fruit itself.

5. a sugarplum.

6. a raisin, as in a cake or pudding.

7. a deep purple varying from bluish to reddish.

8. Informal. an excellent or desirable thing, as a fine position.

   The choicest plums went to his old cronies.

9. Informal. an unanticipated large increase in money or property, as an unexpected legacy; a windfall.

   The company offered bonuses and other plums.

10. Also called displacer.  a large stone used in massive concrete construction.

---

adjective

plummer, plummest

1. extremely desirable, rewarding, profitable, or the like.

   a plum job in the foreign service.

Plum ² American  

[pluhm] / plʌm /

noun

1. a city in SW Pennsylvania.

---

plum ¹ British  

/ plʌm /

noun

1. a small rosaceous tree, Prunus domestica, with white flowers and an edible oval fruit that is purple, yellow, or green and contains an oval stone See also greengage damson

2. the fruit of this tree

3. a raisin, as used in a cake or pudding

4. 1. a dark reddish-purple colour

   2. ( as adjective )

      a plum carpet

5. informal

   1. something of a superior or desirable kind, such as a financial bonus

   2. ( as modifier )

      a plum job

---

plum ² British  

/ plʌm /

adjective

1. a variant spelling of plumb plumb plumb plumb

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• plumlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• plums
  plural

Etymology

Origin of plum

before 900; Middle English; Old English plūme (cognate with German Pflaume ) ≪ Greek proûmnon plum, proúmnē plum tree; cf. prune ¹

Explanation

A plum is a flowering fruit tree, and it's also the name of the fruit that grows on it. Plums are small, dark reddish purple, and sweet. Plums have an edible, smooth skin, juicy flesh, and a hard pit in the middle. When plums are dried, they're called prunes. The typical color of a ripe plum — a rich, purple-red shade — is also called plum. And informally, you can say that something great or desirable is plum: "I was just offered a plum role in the school play!"

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plum Plum plums plummer plummest

And their reward was a plum home tie against Mikel Arteta's men, who beat Ipswich Town 4-2 on Tuesday.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

Choose whatever farmers market flavor is calling to you—apricot, sour cherry, blackberry and red plum would all be excellent this time of year.

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026

Turner, who had been running the cable programming division of Time Warner, was unhappy at being sidelined from a significant role after the merger, as AOL took the plum positions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026

A plum gig at a Big Three network used to be the only way for a journalist to get the pay and prestige of a superstar.

From Slate ● May 6, 2026

She slipped out of herself with the sensation of being shed—like a bird’s molted feather, or a plum dropped from a tree.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Suzanne Badger who works as the front of house manager at the Pickled Plum pub in Pershore, said people were "walking in off the street, melting".

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

Kelsey Plum, who was recently traded from the Sparks to the Mercury, did not play during the first matchup against her former team because of a lower left leg injury.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

After Kelsey Plum was traded to the Mercury, most considered the Sparks’ season over.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

The Sparks have agreed to trade All-Star guard Kelsey Plum to the Phoenix Mercury in exchange for Monique Akoa Makani and two draft picks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

I was playing a cello solo from Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.”

From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman

Products that will benefit include some types of Calvados and cider from Normandy, Crémant d'Alsace fizzy wine, lamb from Poitou-Charentes, and Reine-Claude plums.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

Adding foods like blueberries, plums, blackberries, broad beans, and cherries to your daily diet, especially when paired with green tea, could be a simple way to support heart health, according to new research.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026

Berries, peaches, cherries, plums — anything that can be washed at home and eaten out of hand.

From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026

Chamoy similarly comes from Asia through pickled plums, particularly China via the Philippines.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026

At the end of summer we would pick beach plums that she would make into a delicious jelly the color of rubies.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

About 6 ft. of shafting is coupled on in line with the motor shaft, and an extra plummer block fixed at the end.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889 by Various

The plummer was hear twice yisterday and the cutworms is awfle.

From The Romance of an Old Fool by Roswell Martin Field

The same may be said with reference to articles used by the house plummer.

From The History of Louisville, from the Earliest Settlement till the Year 1852 by Ben Casseday

Q.--What kind of plummer blocks are used for the paddle shaft bearings?

From A Catechism of the Steam Engine by John Bourne, C.E.

The plummer block for receiving the thrust of the shaft is shown in fig.

From A Catechism of the Steam Engine by John Bourne, C.E.

For women and not a few drag queens, Blanche is considered one of the plummest roles in all of show business, though its psychological complexities can prove debilitating.

From New York Times ● Apr. 2, 2023

Now, Christie is the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention, the plummest of plum speaking gigs and a testament to how quickly he has risen in the GOP firmament.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 26, 2012

Related Words

• carrot
• cream