Main Entry:

¹plume

Pronunciation:

\ˈplüm\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin pluma small soft feather — more at fleece

Date:

14th century

1: a feather of a bird: as a: a large conspicuous or showy feather b: contour feather c: plumage d: a cluster of distinctive feathers 2 a: material (as a feather, cluster of feathers, or a tuft of hair) worn as an ornament b: a token of honor or prowess : prize3: something resembling a feather (as in shape, appearance, or lightness): as a: a plumose appendage of a plant b: an elongated and usually open and mobile column or band (as of smoke, exhaust gases, or blowing snow) c: an animal structure having a main shaft bearing many hairs or filamentous parts ; especially : a full bushy tail d: any of several columns of molten rock rising from the earth's lower mantle that are theorized to drive tectonic plate movement and to underlie hot spots

[plume illustration]