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

I chose two: one ridged and heavy, its skin receding from burgundy into a deep, almost plum color; the other a cheerful red beefsteak.

From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026

Substituting raw wedges of tomato, which far too often can be floury and tasteless, for slow roasted plum tomatoes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

I wanted a little nod to Hawaii with the pineapple because that’s where we also get salted plum culture.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026

Reynolds was reshuffled to chief whip and Jones ended up with the plum role of Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations.

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026

“I hardly think a plum would survive the fall,” Feral pointed out.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Plum was a key piece to Team USA’s victory over France in the gold medal game at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026

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

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

The Sparks got good value for Plum in guard Monique Akoa Makani and a first-round pick in this year’s draft that, like their own, is likely to be a lottery pick.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

"Surely you must have the answer, Mr. Plum," Angela repeated sweetly.

From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin

Thanks to a Philippines-Mexico connection, coconut shows up in sweet and savory recipes: ceviche with poached shrimp, coconut limonada and coconut raspado with jammy plums.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 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

Eating blueberries, plums, blackberries, broad beans and cherries, washed down with green tea, is an ideal way to top them up, they say.

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026

Michael Thurlow, whose family grows peaches, nectarines and plums in California’s San Joaquin Valley, has been a longtime supplier of D’Fresh.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026

Her hands shook as she picked up the plums.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

An instrument by which the wheel-lock guns and pistols were wound up; also used to screw up the nuts of the plummer boxes.

From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher

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

From The Romance of an Old Fool by Roswell Martin Field

First, set the beams level, and shift in or out the motion shaft plummer blocks or bearings, until the piston rod is upright.

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

Pillow Block, Plummer Block, or Pedestal.—The ordinary form of plummer block is represented in fig.

From An Introduction to Machine Drawing and Design by David Allan Low

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

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