rum1
- an alcoholic liquor or spirit distilled from molasses or some other fermented sugar-cane product.
- alcoholic drink in general; intoxicating liquor: He warned against the demon rum.
Origin of rum1
rum2
- odd, strange, or queer: a rum fellow.
- problematic; difficult.
Origin of rum2
rum3
Origin of rum3
Rum
- Arabic name of Rome, once used to designate the Byzantine Empire.
Rum.
Examples from the Web for rum
Contemporary Examples
Remove from heat and stir in the walnuts, rum, powdered sugar, and salt until fully incorporated.
Heat the rum in a small skillet over medium until reduce by half.
Make a batch of these rum balls, climb into a onesie, and let your favorite movie do the rest.
Both impart the experience of sitting with brilliant Cubans over a rum to debate the State of Cuban Intellectual Life.
The outcome of the rum feud is critical for both Bacardi and Pernod Ricard, because the winner could net billions in future sales.
Historical Examples
They go from the school-room to the rum saloons, and dawdle away the rest of the day.
Ester Ried Yet SpeakingIsabella Alden
There was one who would have helped her father; would and could have saved him, even from rum.
Ester Ried Yet SpeakingIsabella Alden
We were free with our rum, and, as much as we dared to be, with our money.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
The man pretended that the captain had carried off the keys, and no rum was to be had.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
The rum cheered us up, and, if rum ever did good, I think it was to us on that occasion.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
rum1
- spirit made from sugar cane, either coloured brownish-red by the addition of caramel or by maturation in oak containers, or left white
Word Origin
rum2
- British slang strange; peculiar; odd
Word Origin
rum3
- short for rummy 1
Word Origin and History for rum
n.
"liquor from sugar cane or molasses," 1650s, shortening of rumbullion (1651), rombostion (1652), of uncertain origin, perhaps from rum (adj.).
The chiefe fudling they make in the Island [i.e. Barbados] is Rumbullion alias Kill-Devill, and this is made of suggar cane distilled, a hott, hellish and terrible liquor. ["A briefe Description of the Island of Barbados," 1651]
The English word was borrowed into Dutch, German, Swedish, Danish, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, and Russian. Used since 1800 in North America as a general (hostile) name for intoxicating liquors.
Rum I take to be the name which unwashed moralists apply alike to the product distilled from molasses and the noblest juices of the vineyard. Burgundy in "all its sunset glow" is rum. Champagne, soul of "the foaming grape of Eastern France," is rum. ... Sir, I repudiate the loathsome vulgarism as an insult to the first miracle wrought by the Founder of our religion! [Oliver Wendell Holmes, "The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table," 1891]
adj.
"excellent, fine, good, valuable," 1560s, from rome "fine" (1560s), said to be from Romany rom "male, husband" (see Romany). E.g. rum kicks "Breeches of gold or silver brocade, or richly laced with gold or silver" [Grose, "Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1788].
A very common 16c. cant word, by 1774 it also had come to mean "odd, strange, bad, spurious," perhaps because it had been so often used approvingly by rogues in reference to one another. This was the main sense after c.1800.