Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PLUM, n. [Sax. plume; G. pflaume; Dan. blomme; Sw. plommon; Corn. pluman; Ir. pluma.]

1. The fruit of a tree belonging to the genus Prunus. The fruit is a drupe, containing a nut or stone with prominent sutures and inclosing a kernel. The varieties of the plum are numerous and well known.
2. A grape dried in the sun; a raisin.
3. The sum of £100,000 sterling. – London.
4. A kind of play. – Ainsworth. [Dr. Johnson remarks that this word is often written improperly plumb. This is true, not only of this word, but of all words in which b follows m, as in thumb, dumb, &c.]