rum

¹ American  

[ruhm] / rʌm /

noun

1. an alcoholic liquor or spirit distilled from molasses or some other fermented sugar-cane product.

2. alcoholic drink in general; intoxicating liquor.

   He warned against the demon rum.

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rum ² American  

[ruhm] / rʌm /

adjective

Chiefly British Informal.

1. odd, strange, or queer.

   a rum fellow.

2. problematic; difficult; bad.

   a rum situation.

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rum ³ American  

[ruhm] / rʌm /

noun

Cards.

1. rummy.

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Rum ⁴ American  

[room] / rum /

noun

1. Arabic name of Rome, once used to designate the Byzantine Empire.

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Rum. ⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. Rumania. See Romania.

2. Rumanian. See Romanian. Also Rum

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rum ¹ British  

/ rʌm /

noun

1. spirit made from sugar cane, either coloured brownish-red by the addition of caramel or by maturation in oak containers, or left white

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rum ² British  

/ rʌm /

adjective

1. slang strange; peculiar; odd

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rum ³ British  

/ rʌm /

noun

1. short for rummy 1

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Other Word Forms

• rumless adjective
• rumly adverb
• rumness noun

Etymology

Origin of rum¹

First recorded in 1645–55; perhaps short for obsolete rumbullion, rumbustion, of obscure origin

Origin of rum²

First recorded in 1750–60; earlier rome, room “great,” of uncertain origin; perhaps from Romani; Rom

Origin of rum³

An Americanism dating back to 1870–75; by shortening

Example Sentences

Its exports are largely limited to cigars, rum, nickel and cobalt.

From The Wall Street Journal

The Browns had a hand in everything from ironmaking and rum distilling to whaling and the slave trade.

From Barron's

The easiest way to make a non-boozy Piña Colada is to take out the rum.

From Salon

There I was, standing in front of a counter full of various flavors — caramel, cheese cake, carrot cake, rum & raisin.

From Salon

My wife wasn’t too thrilled with the golden rum cake, since it’s nothing like the dense dark rum cake she grew up with, but I loved it!

From Salon