Plum-tree, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum: see Monosyllable. Whence have at the plum-tree, a proverbial phrase, or the burden of a song.
c. 1547. Mariage of Witt and Wisdome, 16. I was neuer stained but once falling out of my mother's plumtre.
1594. Shakspeare, 2 Henry VI., ii. 1. Suf. How camest thou so? [lame]. Simp. A fall off of a tree. Wife. A plum-tree, master. Glou. How long hast thou been blind? Simp. O, born so, master.
1611. Cotgrave, Dict., s.v. Hoche-prunier. A Plum-tree shaker, a man's yard.
Plunder, subs. (American).—1.
Household goods; personal
effects; baggage. [M.D. plunder
= household effects.]
d. 1834. Coleridge, Letters, 214. They [Americans] had mistaken the English language for baggage (which is called plunder in America), and had stolen it.
1846. Major Jones's Courtship, 165. Old Bosen was going to have more'n his match to pull us, they'd put in so much plunder, Two trunks, bandboxes, &c.
1859. Hoffman, Winter in the West, xxxiii. 'Help yourself, stranger,' added the landlord, 'while I tote your plunder into the other room.'
1873. Lynch Law in the Sucker State. On Sunday afternoon, two long dug-outs, loaded with plunder, stopped at the cabin . . . This was the family and property of Hank Harris.
2. (common).—Profit; makings (q.v.).
Plunge, verb. (racing).—To bet recklessly. Hence a plunge = a reckless bet; plunging = gambling for high stakes; plunger = a reckless gambler. [E.g., the Marquis of Hastings, the first so-called. One night he played three games of draughts for £1000 a game and lost all three. He then 'cut' for £500 a 'cut' and lost £5000 in less than two hours. Benzon (the Jubilee Plunger) lost £250,000 in little more than twelve months.]
1880. Fortnightly Review, 319. Plunging was the order of the day.
1890. Sims, in Referee, 20 Ap., 'Rondeau of the Knock.' One plunger more has had his little flare, And then came Monday when he couldn't 'square.'
1891. Lic. Vict. Gaz., 3 Ap. The Squire of Kingscote took to plunging and shaking his elbow at baccarat nearly every night.
1901. Free Lance, 9 Feb., 471, 1. Sponging on their friends in order to settle their Stock Exchange "differences" . . . Husbands are ruined in a day by the secret plunging of their wives.
Plunger, subs. (military).—1. A
cavalry man.
1857. Kingsley, Two Years Ago, xvi. It's an insult to the whole Guards, my dear fellow, after refusing two of us, to marry an attorney, and after all to bolt with a plunger.
2. See Plunge, verb.
3. (clerical).—A Baptist.
Plush, subs. (nautical).—1. See
quot.
1867. Smyth, Sailors' Word Book, s.v. Plush . . . The overplus of the gravy, arising from being distributed in a smaller measure than the true one, and assigned to the cook of each mess, becomes a cause of irregularity.
2. (venery).—The pubic hair: see Fleece.
John Plush, subs. phr. (common).—A footman: cf. Thackeray, The Yellowplush Correspondence, by Charles Yellowplush, Esq.
Plyer, subs. (old).—A crutch.—B.E.
(c. 1696); Grose (1785).
2. (old).—A trader.—Grose (1785).
