rum

Clipping of English Rumanian.

rum

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2/B language code for Romanian.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Romanian terms

• IPA^(key): /ɹʌm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌm

In common use since at least 1654,^[1] of uncertain origin. Theories include:

• that it is a shortening of rumbullion^[2] or rumbustion,^[3] names for rum also attested in the Caribbean during the mid-17th century,
• that it derives from rummer, from Dutch roemer,^[4]
• that it is from a Romani word for "strong, potent" which is (perhaps) the source of ramboozle and rumfustian (however, these drinks were not originally made with rum),
• that it derives from rum ("fine, good") or from the last syllable of Latin saccharum (given the harsh taste of earlier rum, this origin is now considered unlikely)^[5]

• rhum (obsolete or archaic except Philippines)

rum (countable and uncountable, plural rums)

2. (uncountable) A spirit distilled from various preparations of sugarcane, particularly fermented cane sugar and molasses.

   Coordinate term: grog

   • 1639 September 24, John Josselyn, Journal in An Account of Two Voyages to New-England... (1673), p. 24:

     ... I went aboard the Fellowship of 100 and 70 Tuns a Flemish bottom, the Master George Luxon of Bittiford in Devonshire, several of my friends came to bid me farewell, among the rest Captain Thomas Wannerton who drank to me a pint of kill-devil alias Rhum at a draught ...

   • 1661 July 3, Orders of the Governor and Council of Jamaica in Colonial Papers: America and West Indies (1880), §123:

     That the former orders concerning rum, sugar, and hammocks be still in force, viz., one half to be forfeited to the King, and one half to the informer.

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

   1. (countable) A serving of rum.

      Jake tossed down three rums.

   2. (countable) A kind or brand of rum.

      Bundaberg is one of my favourite rums.

3. (inexact) A similar spirit distilled from similar preparations of sugarbeets, sorghum, etc.
4. (obsolete, slang) A strange person or thing.
5. (obsolete, slang) A country parson.
   • 1729, Jonathan Swift, The Grand Question Debated of Hamilton's Bawn:

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

• (spirit): rumbullion, rumbustion, kill-devil (obsolete); Nelson's blood (jocular)
• (odd person): odd duck, strange fish, weirdo; see also Thesaurus:strange person
• (odd thing): abnormality, deviant, outlier; see also Thesaurus:anomaly

• (spirit): rhum agricole, cachaça, tafia, bush rum; sorghum rum

• baba au rhum

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

rum (comparative rummer, superlative rummest)

1. (obsolete) Fine, excellent, valuable. [16th c.]

   having a rum time

2. (UK, informal, dated) Strange, peculiar. [18th c.]

   a rum idea; a rum fellow

   • 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:

     "Lor, Noah!" said Charlotte, "What a rum creature you are! Why don't you let the boy alone?"

   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 27, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

     [H]e stared after Pynsent stupidly, and pronounced to the landlord over the counter that he was a rum one.

   • 1878, Henry James, An International Episode‎^[1]:

     The young men had exchanged few observations; but in crossing Union Square, in front of the monument to Washington—in the very shadow, indeed, projected by the image of the pater patriae—one of them remarked to the other, “It seems a rum-looking place.”
     “Ah, very odd, very odd,” said the other, who was the clever man of the two.

   • 1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian‎^[2]:

     "Can't you see him?"
     "Well, I almost thought I did—for a moment. It's such a rum light."

   • 1957, Sydney J. Bounds, The Robot Brains, London: Digit Books, page 35:

     "But you think he's right?" "Could be. They're rum birds, all right."

   • 1976, James Herriot, All Things Wise and Wonderful, page 346:

     "She's as 'appy as Larry, but she'll neither move nor eat. It's a rum 'un, isn't it?" It was very rum indeed.

• (fine, excellent, valuable): exceptional, pukka, top-notch; see also Thesaurus:excellent
• (strange, peculiar): bizarre, queer, rummy; see also Thesaurus:strange

rum (plural rums)

1. (British, colloquial, dated) Any odd person or thing.

• rum cull

Shortening of rummy.

rum

1. (rare) The card game rummy.

• rum-tum, rum tum ditty (probably etymologically unrelated)

• rum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “rum”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Rum, sb.¹”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VIII, Part 1 (Q–R), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 886.
• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “† Rum, sb.²”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VIII, Part 1 (Q–R), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 886, column 3.
• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “† Rum, sb.³”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VIII, Part 1 (Q–R), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 886, column 3.
• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Rum, a.¹”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VIII, Part 1 (Q–R), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 886, column 3.
• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Rum, a.²”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VIII, Part 1 (Q–R), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, pages 886–887.
• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “† Rum, v.”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VIII, Part 1 (Q–R), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 887, column 1.

• MRU, Mru, RMU, URM

Borrowed from English room.

rum

1. room

rum

1. first-person singular of re

• IPA^(key): [ˈrum]

Borrowed from German Rum, from English rum, originally rumbullion.^[1]

rum m inan

1. rum

Probably from German Rummel (“bustle”).^[2]

rum m inan

1. rubble

   Synonym: suť

• “rum”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “rum”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “rum”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

• IPA^(key): /romˀ/, [ˈʁɔmˀ]
• Rhymes: -ɔm

From Old Norse rúm, from Proto-Germanic *rūmą (“room, open space”), cognate with English room, German Raum, Dutch ruim, Gothic 𐍂𐌿𐌼 (rum).

rum n (singular definite rummet, plural indefinite rum)

1. room (part of a building)
2. compartment
3. (chiefly definite) space (the universe except Earth and its atmosphere)

   De fravalgte at udforske rummet.

   They chose not to explore space.

   rumfarttøj (“space vehicle”), rumrejse (“space travel”)

From Old Norse rúmr, from Proto-Germanic *rūmaz (“roomy, spacious, open”), cognate with English room (archaic), German raum (archaic), Dutch ruim, Gothic 𐍂𐌿𐌼𐍃 (rums). Related to the noun.

rum (neuter rumt, plural and definite singular attributive rumme)

2. (archaic) wide, spacious

   in the modern language only in the expressions i rum sø (“in open sea”) and rum tid (“long time”)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

rum

1. imperative of rumme

Borrowed from English rum.

• IPA^(key): /rʏm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: rum
• Rhymes: -ʏm

rum m (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. rum (alcoholic beverage)

• Negerhollands: roem, rum

• rum (drank) on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl

Borrowed from English room.

• IPA^(key): /ruːm/

rum

1. room

• Fiji Hindi Dictionary

From dialectal German (e)rum, reduced form of herum and in some dialects darum.

• IPA^(key): /ʁʊm/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

rum

1. (colloquial) alternative form of herum (“around”)

• While most or all instances of standard herum can be replaced with rum in the vernacular, compounds that are inherently colloquial will typically sound odd when herum is used in them. These will appear in writing with rum or not at all.

• rumballern
• rumeiern
• rumsitzen
• rumstehen

rum

1. romanization of 𐍂𐌿𐌼

Borrowed from German Rum,^[1] from English rum.

• IPA^(key): [ˈrum]
• Hyphenation: rum
• Rhymes: -um

rum (plural rumok)

1. rum (a distilled spirit)

• rum in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

Borrowed from English rum.

rum m (genitive singular rum, nominative plural rumanna)

1. rum

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “rum”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

• rhum

Unadapted borrowing from English rum.

• IPA^(key): /ˈrum/
• Rhymes: -um
• Hyphenation: rùm

rum m (invariable)

1. rum (distilled spirit)

• rum fantasia

Borrowed from German Low German Ruum.

• IPA^(key): /ˈrum/
• Rhymes: -um
• Syllabification: rum

rum m inan

1. room, space

• “rum”, in Internetowi Słowôrz Kaszëbsczégò Jãzëka [Internet Dictionary of the Kashubian Language], Fundacja Kaszuby, 2022

Borrowed from German Low German Ruum, from Middle Low German rûm, Old Saxon rūm, from Proto-West Germanic *rūm.

• IPA^(key): [rum]

rum m inan (diminutive rumk)

1. room, space

• IPA^(key): /ruːm/

From Proto-West Germanic *rūm. Cognate with Old Saxon rūm, Dutch ruim, Old High German rūm, Old Norse rúmr, Gothic 𐍂𐌿𐌼𐍃 (rums).

rūm

1. spacious, roomy
2. long, extended (of time)
3. liberal, extensive, ample, abundant, bountiful, expansive, generous

From Proto-West Germanic *rūm.

rūm n or m

1. room, space
2. a space of time, an interval
3. opportunity

Neuter

Strong a-stem:

Masculine

Strong a-stem:

• ġerūm

• Middle English: roum, rom, roume, rum
  • → Cornish: roum
  • English: room (see there for further descendants)
  • Scots: rowm, roum

Compare German herum.

rum

1. around

• IPA^(key): /ˈrum/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -um
• Syllabification: rum

Borrowed from English rum.

rum m inan

1. rum (distilled spirit)
2. rum (serving)

Borrowed from Middle High German rūm, roum, from Old High German rūm, from Proto-Germanic *rūmą.

rum m inan

1. (archaic, geology) broken debris, rock crumbs

• rum in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• rum in Polish dictionaries at PWN

• rhum (pre-standardization spelling)

Borrowed from English rum.

• Audio (Brazil (Caipira)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ũ
• Hyphenation: rum

rum m (countable and uncountable, plural runs)

1. rum

• “rum”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “rum”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

rum n (plural rumuri)

1. alternative form of rom

rum

1. romanization of 𒀸 (rum)

From Old Norse rúm, from Proto-Germanic *rūmą, from Proto-Indo-European *rewh₁-.

• IPA^(key): /rɵm/

• Audio:

  (file)

rum n

1. a room (in a building)

   Jag vill ha en lägenhet med två rum

   I want a flat with two rooms

2. space, room

   Har du rum i din väska så att du kan lägga ner min bok också?

   Do you have room in your bag so that you could put my book in it too?

   det kröka rummet

   curved space

3. (mathematics) a space

   vektorrum ― vector space

• (space): rumslig

• plats

• rum in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• rum in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• rum in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• mur

rum pl (Tifinagh spelling ⵔⵓⵎ)

1. alternative spelling of řum: straw

From English room.

rum

1. room

• masin bilong hatim rum (“heater”)

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [zum˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʐum˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ɹʊm˧˧]

(classifier cây, hoa, bông) rum

1. safflower

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

(classifier con) rum

1. (North Central Vietnam) sea cucumber