plush

From French peluche (“fluff, plush”). The fact that historically (in past centuries) plush upholstery was so expensive as to be socially exclusive undoubtedly connects the senses of "luxurious" and "soft".

• IPA^(key): /plʌʃ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌʃ

plush (comparative plusher, superlative plushest)

1. (UK) Very extravagant.
2. (UK) Very expensive, or appearing expensive; opulent, luxurious.

   Coordinate term: posh

   They lived in a plush apartment complex.

3. Having a soft, fluffy exterior (of a man-made object, especially stuffed animals or upholstery).

   This plush toy is so cute and soft - I want it!

• plush animal
• plush toy

plush (countable and uncountable, plural plushes)

1. A textile fabric with a nap or shag on one side, longer and softer than the nap of velvet.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Mr. Cooke had had a sloop yacht built at Far Harbor, the completion of which had been delayed, and which was but just delivered. […] The Maria had a cabin, which was finished in hard wood and yellow plush, and accommodations for keeping things cold.

   • 1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 108, column 4:

     That night the Boy slept in a different bedroom, and he had a new bunny to sleep with him. It was a splendid bunny, all white plush with real glass eyes, but the Boy was too excited to care very much about it.

2. A plush toy.
   • 2002 March 2, Billboard, volume 114, number 9, page 70:

     When Play Along — the holder of the Care Bears master toy license — placed Care Bears plushes in Spencer Gifts last year, tweens and teenage girls bought the toys.

   • 2008, Lionel Birglen, Thierry Laliberté, Clément M. Gosselin, Underactuated Robotic Hands, page 94:

     For a small fee, the player can control a crane equipped with a gripper to pick a gift, usually a plush or a small toy, and has to drop it in a place where he/she can grab it.

   • 2011, Bob Sehlinger, Menasha Ridge, Len Testa, The Unofficial Guide Walt Disney World 2012, page 759:

     […] L.A. Prop Cinema Storage, full of kids' clothing (mostly for girls), PJs, and lots of toys and plushes (there's also a substantial infant area).

• plushen
• plushie
• plushly
• plushness
• plushophile
• plushophilia
• plushy

• Puhls, sulph-