plume

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A large, showy feather, often used as a decoration.

   The hat was topped with a bright ostrich plume.

2. 2
   noun

   A rising cloud of smoke, dust, or similar that spreads as it goes up.

   A thick plume of smoke rose from the burning factory.

3. 3
   verb

   To feel very proud of oneself, often over something small.

   He plumed himself on winning a game that hardly mattered.

Simplified etymology

Plume came through French from Latin pluma, meaning “down” or “soft feather.” From the late 16th century it was extended to featherlike shapes, as in a plume of smoke.

Sense 1 (“to adorn, cover, or furnish with feathers or plumes”) is derived from Anglo-Norman plumer (“to cover with or provide with feathers”), or its etymon Latin plūmāre, the present active infinitive of plūmō (“to grow feathers, to fledge; to cover with feathers, to feather; to embroider with a feathery pattern”) (and compare Late Latin plūmō (“to attach feathers to arrows; of a hawk: to pluck the feathers from prey; (figurative) to celebrate, praise”)), from plūma (“feather; plumage; down”) (see etymology 1) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). Senses 2–4 (“to arrange and…

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary