Rum

//ɹʌm// adj, name, noun, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Fine, excellent, valuable. obsolete

    "having a rum time"

  2. 2
    Strange, peculiar. UK, dated, informal

    "a rum idea; a rum fellow"

Adjective
  1. 1
    beyond or deviating from the usual or expected wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of Rome: Rome (a major city in Italy). alt-of, alternative, archaic, obsolete
  2. 2
    An eyalet in the Ottoman Empire. historical
  3. 3
    Alternative form of Rùm, an island of the Inner Hebrides, Highland council area, Scotland, United Kingdom. alt-of, alternative
  4. 4
    A former polity in Anatolia, a Seljuk sultanate. historical
  5. 5
    Synonym of Anatolia and the Byzantine Empire in historical Turkish contexts. archaic
Noun
  1. 1
    A distilled spirit derived from fermented cane sugar and molasses. uncountable

    "The Royal Navy used to issue a rum ration to sailors."

  2. 2
    Any odd person or thing. British, colloquial, dated
  3. 3
    The card game rummy. rare
  4. 4
    Initialism of real user monitoring. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable

    "RUM may involve sniffing the network connection, adding JavaScript to pages, installing agents on end user machines, or some combination thereof."

  5. 5
    a card game based on collecting sets and sequences; the winner is the first to meld all their cards wordnet
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    A distilled spirit derived from fermented cane sugar and molasses.; A serving of rum. countable

    "Jake tossed down three rums."

  2. 7
    liquor distilled from fermented molasses wordnet
  3. 8
    A distilled spirit derived from fermented cane sugar and molasses.; A kind or brand of rum. countable

    "Bundaberg is one of my favourite rums."

  4. 9
    A strange person or thing. countable, obsolete, slang, uncountable
  5. 10
    A country parson. countable, obsolete, slang, uncountable

    "No company comes / But a rabble of tenants, and rusty dull rums."

Etymology

Etymology 1

In common use since by at least 1654, of uncertain origin. Theories include: * that it derives from rum (“fine, good”), or from the last syllable of Latin saccharum (given the harsh taste of earlier rum, the first theory is now considered unlikely), * that it is a shortening of rumbullion or rumbustion, or * that it is from a Romani word for "strong, potent" which is (perhaps) the source of ramboozle and rumfustian (but these drinks were not originally made with rum) * that it derives from rummer, from Dutch roemer

Etymology 2

From the earlier form rome (“good”, slang); possibly of Romani origin; compare rom.

Etymology 3

From the earlier form rome (“good”, slang); possibly of Romani origin; compare rom.

Etymology 4

Shortening of rummy.

Etymology 5

From Middle English and Old English, from Proto-West Germanic *Rūmu, from Proto-Germanic *Rūmō under influence from Late Latin Rōma (“Rome; Constantinople; Roman Empire”), from Latin Rōma (“Rome”).

Etymology 6

From Seljuk Old Anatolian Turkish and Ottoman Turkish روم (Rum, “Rome; Byzantine Empire; central Anatolia”), from Arabic رُوم (Rūm, “Rome; Byzantine Empire”), from Middle Persian 𐭧𐭫𐭥𐭬 (Hrom), from Byzantine Greek Ῥωμανία (Rhōmanía, “Byzantine Empire”), from Latin Romani (“Romans”), from Roma (“Rome”). Doublet of Roma and Rome.

Next best steps

Mini challenge

Want a quick game? Try Word Finder.