plume
IPA: pɫˈum
noun
- (archaic, literary and poetic) A feather of a bird, especially a large or showy one used as a decoration.
- (archaic, literary and poetic) A cluster of feathers worn as an ornament, especially on a helmet; a hackle.
- (figurative) A token of honour or prowess; that on which one prides oneself; a prize or reward.
- The vane (“flattened, web-like part”) of a feather, especially when on a quill pen or the fletching of an arrow.
- Things resembling a feather.
- A cloud formed by a dispersed substance fanning out or spreading.
- An upward spray of mist or water.
- (astronomy) An arc of glowing material (chiefly gases) erupting from the surface of a star.
- (botany) A large and flexible panicle of an inflorescence resembling a feather, such as is seen in certain large ornamental grasses.
- (zoology) A body part resembling a feather.
- The furry tail of certain dog breeds (such as the Samoyed) that curls over their backs or stands erect.
- More fully gill plume: a feathery gill of some crustaceans and molluscs.
- Short for plume moth (“a small, slender moth of the family Pterophoridae”). [(zoology) Any one of numerous small, slender moths, belonging to the family Pterophoridae, most of which have wings deeply divided into two or more plumelike lobes, some species of which are injurious to the grapevine.]
- (geology) Short for mantle plume (“an upwelling of abnormally hot molten material from the Earth's mantle which spreads sideways when it reaches the lithosphere”). [(geology) An upwelling of abnormally hot molten material from the Earth's mantle which spreads sideways when it reaches the lithosphere.]
verb
- (transitive, also figurative) To adorn, cover, or furnish with feathers or plumes, or as if with feathers or plumes.
- (transitive, reflexive) Chiefly of a bird: to arrange and preen the feathers of, specifically in preparation for flight; hence (figurative), to prepare for (something).
- (transitive, reflexive, by extension) To congratulate (oneself) proudly, especially concerning something unimportant or when taking credit for another person's effort; to self-congratulate.
- (transitive, archaic) To strip (a bird) of feathers; to pluck.
- (by extension) To peel, to strip completely; to pillage; also, to deprive of power.
- (falconry, obsolete) Of a hawk: to pluck the feathers from prey.
- (intransitive) Of a dispersed substance such as dust or smoke: to fan out or spread in a cloud.
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Examples of "plume" in Sentences
- February 21st, 2009 by admin plume over algae moss
- A reader of the NYT article might expect to look at the plume from the plant's smokestacks and see lots of smoke.
- I do believe that the Minister of Education using a nom de plume is very passe, especially when writing such crap.
- Behind him the pickup lifted a powdery plume from the road and the suspended dust shone like bright flecks of gold in the sun.
- The ash plume from the Icelandic volcano has continued to spread and has resulted in the grounding of flights in nearly 20 European nations.
- The back plume from the explosion (the mushroom cloud) would be bent over the Mediterranean Sea re-entering the atmosphere over the Levant, Sinai, and Northern Egypt.
- "If it has come from something like that, then the airborne bacteria what we call a plume could have travelled over several kilometres given the right weather conditions, and that's the scenario we are looking at now."
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