What is "greengage"

Plum \Plum\, n. [AS. pl[=u]me, fr. L. prunum; akin to Gr. ?, ?. Cf. Prune a dried plum.]

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. [1913 Webster] 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 H[ae]matostaphes 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 [pounds]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

5. A color resembling that of a plum; a slightly grayish deep purple, varying somewhat in its red or blue tint.

   Plum bird, Plum budder (Zo["o]l.), the European bullfinch.

   Plum gouger (Zo["o]l.), 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 (Zo["o]l.), 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.

from green + name of English botanist Sir William Gage (1657-1727) who first cultivated it in England c.1725.

n. A plum with greenish-yellow flesh and skin (taxlink Prunus domestica subsp. italica var. claudiana variety noshow=1).

n. sweet green or greenish-yellow variety of plum [syn: greengage plum]

The greengages are a group of cultivars of the common European plum. The first true greengage was bred in Moissac, France, from a green-fruited wild plum (' Canerik') originally found in Asia Minor; that original greengage cultivar nowadays survives in an almost unchanged form as the cultivar 'Reine Claude Verte'.

The Oxford English Dictionary regards "gage" and "greengage" as synonyms. However, not all gages are green, and some horticulturists make a distinction between the two words, with greengages as a variety of the gages, scientifically named Prunus domestica subsp. italica var. claudiana. The gages (P. d. ssp. italica) otherwise include the large and usually purple to blackish but occasionally bright yellow round plums (var. subrotunda, e.g. the Ontario plum), as well as the ancient and little-known Austrian varieties Punze (var. rotunda) and Weinkriech (var. vinaria).