means Rich, soft, and luxuriously thick to the touch — or, as a noun, the dense velvety fabric that gives stuffed toys their huggable surface.

from From the French 'pluche,' a contraction of 'peluche' (shaggy fabric), which traces back to Latin 'pilus' meaning 'hair' — the same root that gives us 'pile,' the raised loops on velvet and carpet. So 'plush' is literally a word about controlled fuzz. It entered English in the late 16th century naming a sumptuous long-napped cloth worn by nobles; only much later did its silky luxury get downgraded to comforting and metaphorical, so a 'plush' hotel and a plush bear share a surprisingly aristocratic ancestor.