Lo·tus n.
 1. Bot. (a) A name of several kinds of water lilies; as Nelumbium speciosum, used in religious ceremonies, anciently in Egypt, and to this day in Asia; Nelumbium luteum, the American lotus; and Nymphæa Lotus and Nymphæa cærulea, the respectively white-flowered and blue-flowered lotus of modern Egypt, which, with Nelumbium speciosum, are figured on its ancient monuments. (b) The lotus of the lotuseaters, probably a tree found in Northern Africa, Sicily, Portugal, and Spain (Zizyphus Lotus), the fruit of which is mildly sweet. It was fabled by the ancients to make strangers who ate of it forget their native country, or lose all desire to return to it. (c) The lote, or nettle tree. See Lote. (d) A genus (Lotus) of leguminous plants much resembling clover. [Written also lotos.]
 European lotus, a small tree (Diospyros Lotus) of Southern Europe and Asia; also, its rather large bluish black berry, which is called also the date plum.
 2. Arch. An ornament much used in Egyptian architecture, generally asserted to have been suggested by the Egyptian water lily.

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 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.

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 Date, n. Bot. The fruit of the date palm; also, the date palm itself.
 Note: ☞ This fruit is somewhat in the shape of an olive, containing a soft pulp, sweet, esculent, and wholesome, and inclosing a hard kernel.
 Date palm, or Date tree Bot., the genus of palms which bear dates, of which common species is Phœnix dactylifera. See Illust.
 Date plum Bot., the fruit of several species of Diospyros, including the American and Japanese persimmons, and the European lotus (Diospyros Lotus).
 Date shell, or Date fish Zool., a bivalve shell, or its inhabitant, of the genus Pholas, and allied genera. See Pholas.


 date plum
      n : an Asiatic persimmon tree cultivated for its small yellow or
          purplish-black edible fruit much valued by Afghan tribes
          [syn: Diospyros lotus]