Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A Eurasian plum tree (Prunus insititia) cultivated since ancient times for its edible fruit.
- n. The oval, bluish-black, juicy plum of this tree.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The fruit of Prunus communis, variety damascena, a small black, dark-bluish, or purple plum. The finest variety of this plum is the Shropshire damson, which is extensively used for preserves. Formerly also
damascene .
Wiktionary
- n. A deciduous tree, Prunus insititia, native to Eurasia and related to the plum.
- n. The edible fruit of this tree.
- adj. The color of the fruit of this tree, a very deep purple.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A small oval plum of a blue color, the fruit of a variety of the Prunus domestica; -- called also
damask plum .
WordNet 3.0
- n. dark purple plum of the damson tree
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Latin (prunum ("plum")) damascenum ("of Damascus") (Wiktionary)
- Middle English damson, damacene, from Latin (prūnum) Damascēnum, (plum) of Damascus, from Damascēnus; see damascene. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“To this day, I cannot divest the word damson or the word plum of a slightly saucy overtone.”
“It's Lambs Pride Superwash in Mysterious Fuchsia - a beautiful heathery damson purple.”
“Finally, Paolo Scavino, in Castiglione Falletto in the Langhe area, has produced a tighter wine in its Barolo Bric del Fiasc 2006, with an increased minerality, with intense black cherry and damson.”
“The welcoming "I make my own damson preserve!" sparkle in Frances's eyes is snuffed out, replaced by the cold, vengeful stare of Steven Seagal in Hard To Kill.”
“Or offering me a guided tour of your delightful damson orchard.”
“Such is its success—it is now stocked in a swathe of upscale bars, including London's Savoy Hotel, Boca Grande restaurant in Barcelona and Soho House in Berlin—that Sipsmith has added sloe gin, vodka, damson vodka and a summer cup to its portfolio.”
“This has evolved beautifully into a very graceful wine The nose is very ripe with an overwhelming damson character and a little spice.”
“Those white margins were ribbons of sloe or blackthorn, bringing brilliance to the rich pasture lands and the promise of late summer bounty if a late frost doesn't prevent the setting of these wild cousins of the damson.”
“Stir a thick fruit purée, such as blackcurrant or damson into the meringue mixture.”
“At the end, there was a palate-cleansing damson ice cream.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘damson’.
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Fruit, Sex and Other Morsels
Because drippy passionfruit, and he was pricked pineapple but sometime around cherry durian blond twins started persimmon, lychee papaya and before we knew it, quince plum mango mango and O O O Ora...
sweetsop, canistel, velvet apple, sticky, viscid, ganache, damson, rambutan, papain, fruit bat, spread, cream and 6 more...
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Foodie
As much fun to say as they are to eat.
blueberry, cider, almond, apricot, asparagus, banana, fudge, foldover, flapjacks, filbert, fig, biscuit and 217 more...
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Learned (or Encountered) in Reading
I have a list for words learned from Newsweek; here's where I keep all the stuff from other shit I read.
Except when I'm looking stuff up and find new words that way. Those go on their...cellie, laminectomy, mridangam, terroir, hypospadias, crus, corpora cavernosa, crura, uretheral meatus, bartholin's gland, coloquintida, colopexy and 921 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (D)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
desert rose, dabble, daffodil, dagger, dairymaid, daisy, damask, damson, dappled, dart, dashed, dauphin and 111 more...
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Chromonyms
These chromonyms are defined as colors in at least one dictionary (mostly MW3). (Actually there's one fake, for reasons I'll explain someday.) They are all one-word nouns such as "kelly", which can...
absinthe, acacia, acorn, alabaster, alesan, almond, aloma, amaranth, amber, amethyst, anemone, anil and 821 more...
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Underworld
Don DeLillo
roily, reverie, slidy, bandido, mohair, brilliantine, stupe, juke step, jowly, juke, wicket, quidbit and 391 more...
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Food
.
spaghetti, yogurt, muesli, rarebit, wheat, cream, cheese, pumpkin, custard, couscous, oats, sausage and 237 more...
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not the sum of their parts
words formed as the combination of two or more other words, but which have a meaning unrelated to either of the constituent words
earwig, ladyfinger, pantywaist, dovetail, eavesdropper, blackmail, greenhorn, mango, carpet, penny farthing, farthingale, damage and 118 more...
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Blue remembered hills
Flora, fauna and other things common in the time and place where I grew up
millipede, dock leaf, snowdrop, nettle, ragwort, oxeye, moss, bindweed, lichen, hay, forget-me-not, bluebell and 62 more...
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The Anatomy of a Ghost
Andrew Taylor
luddite, guile, double-fronted, guileless, fanlight, gangling, sedan chair, rout, ashlar, potation, inviolate, sash and 22 more...
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A feast of words
words that make my mouth water (the items are rather tasty too)
pumpkin, cream, plum, hominy, cinnamon, frangipane, clafouti, semolina, anise, vanilla, peanut, porridge and 44 more...
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Foodie Wordies
cumin, syllabub, pumpkin, aubergine, caramel, peppermint, custard, couscous, chowder, jam, pop, soda and 24 more...
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Words that sound good
Words that I like because of their pronunciation not their meaning.
louche, galvanize, damson, tulip, cabochon, seraphim, orthogonal, dias, ormolu, bandolier, ermine, scupper
Tweets
Looking for tweets for damson.
dontcry *snort* Jul 20, 2009
chained_bear I hear your father smelt of elderberries. Jul 20, 2009
sionnach Wot. No elderberry wine? Maybe the vintners were too busy jostling their elders. Jul 20, 2009
reesetee I like the phrase "smoky, yeasty den of jollity" from this article. :-) Jul 20, 2009
chained_bear Seen here: "It was like stepping into a King Arthur movie — the stone floor, the soot-blackened beams, the wooden bar offering two draft beers, and a row of dusty demi-johns of homemade wines: damson, plum, pear. The dirty gray thatch on the roof was tattered and molting."
—Henry Shukman, "Going Back in Time to Old England, Sip by Sip," New York Times, July 19, 2009 Jul 20, 2009