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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

rum.

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

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɹʌm/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɹʊm/Northern-England/ɾʌm/Scotland, Wales
  1. A spirit distilled from various preparations of sugarcane, particularly fermented cane sugar and molasses.

    uncountable
    The Royal Navy used to issue a rum ration to sailors.
  2. A spirit distilled from various preparations of sugarcane, particularly fermented cane sugar and molasses. A serving of rum.

    countable
    Jake tossed down three rums.
  3. A spirit distilled from various preparations of sugarcane, particularly fermented cane sugar and molasses. A kind or brand of rum.

    countable
    Bundaberg is one of my favourite rums.
  4. A similar spirit distilled from similar preparations of sugarbeets, sorghum, etc.

    countable · uncountable
  5. A strange person or thing.

    countable · obsolete · slang · uncountable
  6. A country parson.

    countable · obsolete · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

In common use since at least 1654, of uncertain origin. Theories include: * that it is a shortening of rumbullion or rumbustion, names for rum also attested in the Caribbean during the mid-17th century, * that it derives from rummer, from Dutch roemer, * 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word for "strong, potent" which is (perhaps) the source of ramboozle and rumfustian (however, these drinks were not originally made with rum), * that it derives from rum ("fine, good") or from the last syllable of Latin saccharum (given the harsh taste of earlier rum, this origin is now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)

adj/ɹʌm/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɹʊm/Northern-England/ɾʌm/Scotland, Wales
  1. Fine, excellent, valuable.

    obsolete
    having a rum time
  2. Strange, peculiar.

    UK · dated · informal
    a rum idea; a rum fellow
Where this word comes from

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

noun/ɹʌm/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɹʊm/Northern-England/ɾʌm/Scotland, Wales
  1. Any odd person or thing.

    UK · colloquial · dated
Where this word comes from

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

noun/ɹʌm/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɹʊm/Northern-England/ɾʌm/Scotland, Wales
  1. The card game rummy.

    rare
Where this word comes from

Shortening of rummy.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.