: 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
Noun
a hat with bright ostrich plumes
the Nobel Prize for Literature is the plume that all authors covet Verb
that jerk plumes himself on his supposed athletic skills
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Noun
Small plants, animals and microbes thrive off the plumes of mineral-rich gases billowing from the Axial Seamount's hydrothermal vents.—Kameryn Griesser, CNN Money, 8 May 2025 The conclave of cardinals sequestered since Tuesday in Vatican City sent out one plume, then another of black smoke from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney while the world waited, before the stream of white smoke on Thursday that signaled the news.—Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 8 May 2025
Verb
Smoke will plume into the Roman sky again on Wednesday night.—James Horncastle, New York Times, 14 May 2025 Amid Trump’s trade deal victory lap, white smoke plumed out of the Sistine Chapel’s chimney, signaling the papal conclave elected a new pope.—Rebecca Morin, USA Today, 9 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for plume
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin pluma small soft feather — more at fleece
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