Plump (plŭmp) adjective [ Compar. Plumper (-ẽr); superl. Plumpest .] [ Middle English plomp rude, clumsy; akin to Dutch plomp , G., Dan., & Swedish plump ; probably of imitative origin. Confer Plump , adverb ] Well rounded or filled out; full; fleshy; fat; as, a plump baby; plump cheeks. Shak.

The god of wine did his plump clusters bring.

T. Carew.

Plump noun A knot; a cluster; a group; a crowd; a flock; as, a plump of trees, fowls, or spears. [ Obsolete]

To visit islands and the plumps of men.

Chapman.

Plump intransitive verb [ Confer Dutch plompen , German plumpen , Swedish plumpa , Danish plumpe . See Plump , adjective ]
1. To grow plump; to swell out; as, her cheeks have plumped .

2. To drop or fall suddenly or heavily, all at once. "Dulcissa plumps into a chair." Spectator.

3. To give a plumper. See Plumper , 2.

Plump transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Plumped ; present participle & verbal noun Plumping .]
1. To make plump; to fill (out) or support; -- often with up .

To plump up the hollowness of their history with improbable miracles.

Fuller.

2. To cast or let drop all at once, suddenly and heavily; as, to plump a stone into water.

3. To give (a vote), as a plumper. See Plumper , 2.

Plump adverb [ Confer Dutch plomp , interj., German plump , plumps . Confer Plump , adjective & v. ] Directly; suddenly; perpendicularly. "Fall plump ." Beau. & Fl.

Plump adjective Done or made plump, or suddenly and without reservation; blunt; unreserved; direct; downright.

After the plump statement that the author was at Erceldoune and spake with Thomas.

Saintsbury.

Plumper noun
1. One who, or that which, plumps or swells out something else; hence, something carried in the mouth to distend the cheeks.

2. (English Elections) A vote given to one candidate only, when two or more are to be elected, thus giving him the advantage over the others. A person who gives his vote thus is said to plump , or to plump his vote.

3. A voter who plumps his vote. [ Eng.]

4. A downright, unqualified lie. [ Colloq. or Low]

Plumply adverb Fully; roundly; plainly; without reserve. [ Colloq.]

Plumpness noun The quality or state of being plump.

Plumpy adjective Plump; fat; sleek. " Plumpy Bacchus." Shak.

Plumula noun ; plural Latin Plumule , E. -las . [ Latin See Plumule .]
1. (Botany) A plumule.

2. (Zoology) A down feather.

Plumulaceous adjective (Zoology) Downy; bearing down.

Plumular adjective (Botany) Relating to a plumule.

Plumularia noun ; plural Latin Plumularlæ , English Plumularias . [ New Latin ] (Zoology) Any hydroid belonging to Plumularia and other genera of the family Plumularidæ . They generally grow in plumelike forms.

Plumularian noun (Zoology) Any Plumularia. Also used adjectively.

Plumule noun [ Latin plumula , dim. of pluma a feather; confer French plumule .]
1. (Botany) The first bud, or gemmule, of a young plant; the bud, or growing point, of the embryo, above the cotyledons. See Illust. of Radicle . Gray.

2. (Zoology) (a) A down feather. (b) The aftershaft of a feather. See Illust. under Feather . (c) One of the featherlike scales of certain male butterflies.

Plumulose adjective Having hairs branching out laterally, like the parts of a feather.

Plumy adjective Covered or adorned with plumes, or as with plumes; feathery. "His plumy crest." Addison. "The plumy trees." J. S. Blackie.

Plunder transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Plundered ; present participle & verbal noun Plundering .] [ German plündern to plunder, plunder frippery, baggage.]
1. To take the goods of by force, or without right; to pillage; to spoil; to sack; to strip; to rob; as, to plunder travelers.

Nebuchadnezzar plunders the temple of God.

South.

2. To take by pillage; to appropriate forcibly; as, the enemy plundered all the goods they found.

Syn. -- To pillage; despoil; sack; rifle; strip; rob.

Plunder noun
1. The act of plundering or pillaging; robbery. See Syn. of Pillage .

Inroads and plunders of the Saracens.

Sir T. North.

2. That which is taken by open force from an enemy; pillage; spoil; booty; also, that which is taken by theft or fraud. "He shared in the plunder ." Cowper.

3. Personal property and effects; baggage or luggage. [ Slang, Southwestern U.S.]

Plunderage noun (Mar. Law) The embezzlement of goods on shipboard. Wharton.

Plunderer noun One who plunders or pillages.

Plunge transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Plunged ; present participle & verbal noun Plunging .] [ Middle English ploungen , Old French plongier , French plonger , from (assumed) Late Latin plumbicare , from Latin plumbum lead. See Plumb .]
1. To thrust into water, or into any substance that is penetrable; to immerse; to cause to penetrate or enter quickly and forcibly; to thrust; as, to plunge the body into water; to plunge a dagger into the breast. Also used figuratively; as, to plunge a nation into war. "To plunge the boy in pleasing sleep." Dryden.

Bound and plunged him into a cell.

Tennyson.

We shall be plunged into perpetual errors.

I. Watts.

2. To baptize by immersion.

3. To entangle; to embarrass; to overcome. [ Obsolete]

Plunged and graveled with three lines of Seneca.

Sir T. Browne.

Plunge intransitive verb
1. To thrust or cast one's self into water or other fluid; to submerge one's self; to dive, or to rush in; as, he plunged into the river. Also used figuratively; as, to plunge into debt.

Forced to plunge naked in the raging sea.

Dryden.

To plunge into guilt of a murther.

Tillotson.

2. To pitch or throw one's self headlong or violently forward, as a horse does.

Some wild colt, which . . . flings and plunges .

Bp. Hall.

3. To bet heavily and with seeming recklessness on a race, or other contest; in an extended sense, to risk large sums in hazardous speculations. [ Cant]

Plunging fire (Gun.) , firing directed upon an enemy from an elevated position.

Plunge noun
1. The act of thrusting into or submerging; a dive, leap, rush, or pitch into, or as into, water; as, to take the water with a plunge .

2. Hence, a desperate hazard or act; a state of being submerged or overwhelmed with difficulties. [ R.]

She was brought to that plunge , to conceal her husband's murder or accuse her son.

Sir P. Sidney.

And with thou not reach out a friendly arm,
To raise me from amidst this plunge of sorrows?

Addison.

3. The act of pitching or throwing one's self headlong or violently forward, like an unruly horse.

4. Heavy and reckless betting in horse racing; hazardous speculation. [ Cant]

Plunge bath , an immersion by plunging; also, a large bath in which the bather can wholly immerse himself. -- Plunge , or plunging , battery (Electricity) , a voltaic battery so arranged that the plates can be plunged into, or withdrawn from, the exciting liquid at pleasure.

Plunger noun
1. One who, or that which, plunges; a diver.

2. A long solid cylinder, used, instead of a piston or bucket, as a forcer in pumps.

3. One who bets heavily and recklessly on a race; a reckless speculator. [ Cant]

4. (Pottery) A boiler in which clay is beaten by a wheel to a creamy consistence. Knight.

5. (Gun.) The firing pin of a breechloader.

Plunger bucket , a piston, without a valve, in a pump. -- Plunger pole , the pump rod of a pumping engine. -- Plunger pump , a pump, as for water, having a plunger, instead of a piston, to act upon the water. It may be single-acting or double-acting

Plunk transitive verb [ Imitative.] [ Chiefly Colloq.]
1. To pluck and release quickly (a musical string); to twang.

2. To throw, push, drive heavily, plumply, or suddenly; as, to plunk down a dollar; also, to hit or strike.

3. To be a truant from (school). [ Scot.]

Plunk intransitive verb [ Chiefly Colloq.]
1. To make a quick, hollow, metallic, or harsh sound, as by pulling hard on a taut string and quickly releasing it; of a raven, to croak.

2. To drop or sink down suddenly or heavily; to plump.

3. To play truant, or "hooky". [ Scot.]

Plunk noun
1. Act or sound of plunking. [ Colloq.]

2. [ Slang] (a) A large sum of money. [ Obsolete] (b) A dollar. [ U. S.]

Plunket noun A kind of blue color; also, anciently, a kind of cloth, generally blue.

Pluperfect adjective [ Latin plus more + perfectus perfect; confer French plus-que-parfait , Latin plusquamperfectum .] More than perfect; past perfect; -- said of the tense which denotes that an action or event was completed at or before the time of another past action or event. -- noun The pluperfect tense; also, a verb in the pluperfect tense.

Plural adjective [ Latin pluralis , from plus , pluris , more; confer French pluriel , Old French plurel . See Plus .] Relating to, or containing, more than one; designating two or more; as, a plural word.

Plural faith, which is too much by one.

Shak.

Plural number (Gram.) , the number which designates more than one. See Number , noun , 8.

Plural noun (Gram.) The plural number; that form of a word which expresses or denotes more than one; a word in the plural form.

Pluralism noun
1. The quality or state of being plural, or in the plural number.

2. (Eccl.) The state of a pluralist; the holding of more than one ecclesiastical living at a time. [ Eng.]

Pluralist noun (Eccl.) A clerk or clergyman who holds more than one ecclesiastical benefice. [ Eng.]

Of the parochial clergy, a large proportion were pluralists .

Macaulay.

Plurality noun ; plural pluralities . [ Latin pluralitas : confer French pluralité .]
1. The state of being plural, or consisting of more than one; a number consisting of two or more of the same kind; as, a plurality of worlds; the plurality of a verb.

2. The greater number; a majority; also, the greatest of several numbers; in elections, the excess of the votes given for one candidate over those given for another, or for any other, candidate. When there are more than two candidates, the one who receives the plurality of votes may have less than a majority. See Majority .

Take the plurality of the world, and they are neither wise nor good.

L'Estrange.

3. (Eccl.) See Plurality of benefices , below.

Plurality of benefices (Eccl.) , the possession by one clergyman of more than one benefice or living. Each benefice thus held is called a plurality . [ Eng.]

Pluralization noun The act of pluralizing. H. Spencer.

Pluralize transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Pluralized ; present participle & verbal noun Pluralizing .]
1. To make plural by using the plural termination; to attribute plurality to; to express in the plural form.

2. To multiply; to make manifold. [ R.]

Pluralize intransitive verb
1. To take a plural; to assume a plural form; as, a noun pluralizes . Earle.

2. (Eccl.) To hold more than one benefice at the same time. [ Eng.]

Pluralizer noun (Eccl.) A pluralist. [ R.]

Plurally adverb In a plural manner or sense.

Pluri- [ See Plus .] A combining form from Latin plus , pluris , more, many; as pluri literal.

Pluries noun [ So called from Latin pluries many times, often, which occurs in the first clause.] (Law) A writ issued in the third place, after two former writs have been disregarded. Mozley & W.

Plurifarious adjective [ Latin plurifarius , from Latin plus , pluris , many. Confer Bifarious .] Of many kinds or fashions; multifarious.

Plurifoliolate adjective [ Pluri- + foliolate .] (Botany) Having several or many leaflets.

Pluriliteral adjective [ Pluri- + literal .] Consisting of more letters than three. - - noun A pluriliteral word.

Plurilocular adjective [ Pluri- + locular .] Having several cells or loculi ; specifically (Botany) , having several divisions containing seeds; as, the lemon and the orange are plurilocular fruits.

Plurilocular sporangia (Botany) , many- celled sporangia, each cell containing a single spore, as in many algæ.

Pluriparous adjective [ Pluri- + Latin parere to bring forth.] Producing several young at a birth; as, a pluriparous animal.

Pluripartite adjective [ Pluri- + partite .] (Botany) Deeply divided into several portions.

Pluripresence noun [ Pluri- + presence .] Presence in more places than one. [ R.] Johnson.

Plurisy noun [ Latin plus , pluris , more.] Superabundance; excess; plethora. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Plus adjective [ Latin , more; akin to Greek ..., ..., and English full . See Full , adjective , and confer Piü , Pleonasm .]

1. (Math.) More, required to be added; positive, as distinguished from negative; -- opposed to minus .

2. Hence, in a literary sense, additional; real; actual.

Success goes invariably with a certain plus or positive power.

Emerson.

Plus sign (Math.) , the sign (+) which denotes addition, or a positive quantity.

Plush noun [ French pluche , peluche (cf. Italian peluzzo ), from Latin pilus hair. See pile hair, and confer Peruke .] A textile fabric with a nap or shag on one side, longer and softer than the nap of velvet. Cowper.

Plushy adjective Like plush; soft and shaggy. H. Kingsley.

Plutarchy noun [ Greek ... wealth + -archy .] Plutocracy; the rule of wealth. [ R.]