DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Plum n.
 1. Bot. The edible drupaceous fruit of the Prunus domestica, and of several other species of Prunus; also, the tree itself, usually called plum tree.
    The bullace, the damson, and the numerous varieties of plum, of our gardens, although growing into thornless trees, are believed to be varieties of the blackthorn, produced by long cultivation.   --G. Bentham.
 Note: ☞ Two or three hundred varieties of plums derived from the Prunus domestica are described; among them the greengage, the Orleans, the purple gage, or Reine Claude Violette, and the German prune, are some of the best known.
 Note: ☞ Among the true plums are; Beach plum, the Prunus maritima, and its crimson or purple globular drupes,
 Bullace plum. See Bullace.
 Chickasaw plum, the American Prunus Chicasa, and its round red drupes.
 Orleans plum, a dark reddish purple plum of medium size, much grown in England for sale in the markets.
 Wild plum of America, Prunus Americana, with red or yellow fruit, the original of the Iowa plum and several other varieties.
    Among plants called plum, but of other genera than Prunus, are; Australian plum, Cargillia arborea and Cargillia australis, of the same family with the persimmon.
 Blood plum, the West African Hæmatostaphes Barteri.
 Cocoa plum, the Spanish nectarine. See under Nectarine.
 Date plum. See under Date.
 Gingerbread plum, the West African Parinarium macrophyllum.
 Gopher plum, the Ogeechee lime.
 Gray plum, Guinea plum. See under Guinea.
 Indian plum, several species of Flacourtia.
 2. A grape dried in the sun; a raisin.
 3. A handsome fortune or property; formerly, in cant language, the sum of £100,000 sterling; also, the person possessing it.
 4. Something likened to a plum in desirableness; a good or choice thing of its kind, as among appointments, positions, parts of a book, etc.; as, the mayor rewarded his cronies with cushy plums, requiring little work for handsome pay
 Plum bird, Plum budder Zool., the European bullfinch.
 Plum gouger Zool., a weevil, or curculio (Coccotorus scutellaris), which destroys plums. It makes round holes in the pulp, for the reception of its eggs. The larva bores into the stone and eats the kernel.
 Plum weevil Zool., an American weevil which is very destructive to plums, nectarines, cherries, and many other stone fruits. It lays its eggs in crescent-shaped incisions made with its jaws. The larva lives upon the pulp around the stone. Called also turk, and plum curculio. See Illust. under Curculio.
 ◄ ►

 Guin·ea n.
 1. A district on the west coast of Africa (formerly noted for its export of gold and slaves) after which the Guinea fowl, Guinea grass, Guinea peach, etc., are named.
 2. A gold coin of England current for twenty-one shillings sterling, or about five dollars, but not coined since the issue of sovereigns in 1817.
 The guinea, so called from the Guinea gold out of which it
 was first struck, was proclaimed in 1663, and to go for twenty shillings; but it never went for less than twenty-one shillings.   --Pinkerton.
 Guinea corn. Bot. See Durra.
 Guinea Current Geog., a current in the Atlantic Ocean setting southwardly into the Bay of Benin on the coast of Guinea.
 Guinea dropper one who cheats by dropping counterfeit guineas. [Obs.] --Gay.
 Guinea fowl, Guinea hen Zool., an African gallinaceous bird, of the genus Numida, allied to the pheasants. The common domesticated species (Numida meleagris), has a colored fleshy horn on each aide of the head, and is of a dark gray color, variegated with small white spots. The crested Guinea fowl (Numida cristata) is a finer species.
 Guinea grains Bot., grains of Paradise, or amomum. See Amomum.
 Guinea grass Bot., a tall strong forage grass (Panicum jumentorum) introduced. from Africa into the West Indies and Southern United States.
 Guinea-hen flower Bot., a liliaceous flower (Fritillaria Meleagris) with petals spotted like the feathers of the Guinea hen.
 Guinea peach. See under Peach.
 Guinea pepper Bot., the pods of the Xylopia aromatica, a tree of the order Anonaceæ, found in tropical West Africa. They are also sold under the name of Piper aethiopicum.
 Guinea plum Bot., the fruit of Parinarium excelsum, a large West African tree of the order Chrysobalaneæ, having a scarcely edible fruit somewhat resembling a plum, which is also called gray plum and rough-skin plum.
 Guinea worm Zool., a long and slender African nematoid worm (Filaria Medinensis) of a white color. It lives in the cellular tissue of man, beneath the skin, and produces painful sores.
 ◄ ►