plumage
/ˈplumɪd͡ʒ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.94 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Feathers used ornamentally; feathering; (countable) a bunch or tuft of such feathers; a plume.
Archaic; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Very fayre ⁊ hardy Hawkes [“Slauon Goshawkes”], large footed, very well penned, theyr downe and plumage excellent fine, their tungs blacke, and their nares large and wide."
- "[T]he glad Bird [a dove] ſtayes all the day abroad, / And vvondrous proud that he a place had found, / […] / Bathing himſelfe, vvhich long he had not done, / And dryes his feathers in the vvelcome Sunne, / Pruning his plumage, clenſing euery quill, / And going back, he beareth in his bill / An Oliue leafe, by vvhich Noah vnderſtood / The great decreaſe and vvaning of the flood: […]"
- "[W]ith a ſvveat ſhe caſts her feathers; and is then carefully nurſed up and fed, till ſhe recover her plumage again."
- "The rock-thrush of Guiana, birds of Paradise, and some others, congregate; and successive males display their gorgeous plumage and perform strange antics before the females, which standing by as spectators, at last choose the most attractive partner."
- "In some few cases the young [birds] in their first plumage differ from each other according to sex; the young males resembling more or less closely the adult males, and the young females more or less closely the adult females."
- "The parrot sat, preening her plumage, on Long John [Silver]'s shoulder."
Etymology
From Late Middle English plumage, plummage (“bird’s feathers collectively, plumage; (falconry) feathers fed to a hawk to cause it to regurgitate, casting”), from Middle French plumage, plomage (“bird’s feathers collectively; person’s (showy) clothing”), from Old French plumage (“bird’s feathers collectively”) (modern French plumage), from plume (“feather, plume”) + -age (suffix forming nouns denoting a state of being). Plume is derived from Latin plūma (“feather, plume”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to flow; to fly; to run; etc.”), from Proto-Indo-European *plew- (“to flow; to fly; to run”). By surface analysis, plume + -age (suffix forming nouns with a sense of appurtenance or collection).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈplumɪd͡ʒ/
- British English: /ˈpluːmɪd͡ʒ/