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   plume

   /pluːm/

   noun

   • 1. a long, soft feather or arrangement of feathers used by a bird for display or worn by a person for ornament: "a hat with a jaunty ostrich plume"
   • ▪ a part of an animal's body that resembles a feather: "the antennae are divided into large feathery plumes"
   • 2. a long cloud of smoke or vapour resembling a feather as it spreads from its point of origin: "as he spoke, the word was accompanied by a white plume of breath"
   • ▪ a mass of material, typically a pollutant, spreading from a source: "a radioactive plume"
   • 3. a localized column of hotter magma rising by convection in the mantle, believed to cause volcanic activity in locations away from plate margins.

   verb

   • 1. spread out in a shape resembling a feather: "smoke plumed from the chimneys"
   • ▪ decorate with or as if with feathers: "I plumed the hat with a couple of soft feathers from the tail of a hawk"
   • 2. (of a bird) preen itself. archaic
   • ▪ feel a great sense of self-satisfaction about something: "she plumed herself on being cosmopolitan"

   Word Origin late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin pluma ‘down’.

   Derivatives

   • 1. plumeless adjective
   • 2. plume-like adjective
   • 3. plumery noun

   Scrabble Points: 9

   • P

     3

   • L

     1

   • U

     1

   • M

     3

   • E

     1

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