Definition of PLUMMY

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During the 18th century the word plum became a delectable ingredient in the English language. The word for the sweet, juicy fruit denoted such things as a fortune of 100,000 pounds, a rich person, and, by the early 19th century, anything desirable. "Plummy" blossomed in the mid-18th century with the meaning "full of plums" and had branched out as an adjective for desirable things by the century's end. By the late 19th century it was being used to describe rich, mellow voices. The sweetness of the word did eventually sour, however, when people began to use it to describe stilted or affected speech, as in "the teacher used a plummy voice when he talked to the students' parents."

Examples of plummy in a Sentence

the wine's ripe, plummy flavors

Recent Examples on the Web

Schiff’s sense of voicing (creating a hierarchy from among simultaneous multiple musical lines) dovetailed in a gorgeously complex way with the Bösendorfer’s colors – plummy French horns in the middle register, muted trumpets above, tuba below. — Peter Dobrin, Philly.com, "Pianist András Schiff is a master of detail at the Kimmel," 1 Apr. 2018 The orchestra has entered the sports arena before, or at least made plummy noises at the sidelines. — Peter Dobrin, Philly.com, "Super Bowl Overture: Philadelphia Orchestra records Eagles fight song," 10 Dec. 2017 Ice cream aromas abound, as with the cherry-vanilla and chocolate-mocha aromatics found in this pleasingly plump and plummy red wine. — Maureen Fitzgerald, Philly.com, "Great Wine Values 'The Count' Red Blend by Buena Vista Sonoma County, California," 13 July 2017 The jelly-like eye shadow dries to a last-all-day powder, and this ever-changing shimmery hue looks plummy one moment, teal the next. — Shelley Levitt, Orange County Register, "Relax and rejuvenate with Coast’s May beauty picks," 15 May 2017 The most convincing tenor was that of Blake Friedman as Iago, whose voice has a plummy fullness and dusky hue. — Corinna Da Fonseca-wollheim, New York Times, "Review: The Desdemona in This ‘Otello’ Spits Fire," 17 Mar. 2017 The head once belonged to a 35-year old man of the 18th century, and was trasmogrified from crummy remnant to plummy crown jewel at a cost about $28 million, using 8,601 diamonds. — Rob Beschizza, WIRED, "Cover Item With Diamonds, Sell for $98m," 4 June 2007

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'plummy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.