maroon

plural maroons · alternative Maroon

1. An escaped black slave of the Caribbean and the Americas or a descendant of such a person.First known use 17th c.

   Joining others who had escaped before them, they formed communities of Maroons in which many traditional African customs and social mores were preserved.

   2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 14

   1 more example

   Further north a Maroon community in the Bahoruco Mountains thrived for eighty-five years, until the French proposed a truce under the terms of which the Maroons would be permitted to form an independent clan.

   1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 193

   Synonyms: Bush Negro, Boschneger

2. A castaway; a person who has been marooned (abandoned).First known use 19th c.

   Synonyms: castaway, marooner

1. not comparableAssociated with Maroon culture, communities or peoples.

   In her discussion of Michelle Cliff's Abeng, a novel that historicizes maroon culture and the Jamaican warrior heroine Nanny of the Maroons, Francoise Lionnet examines linguistic “metissage” […]

   2002, Cynthia James, The Maroon Narrative: Caribbean Literature in English Across Boundaries, Ethnicities, and Centuries, Heinemann Educational Books

present singular third person maroons · participle present marooning · participle past marooned · past marooned

1. To abandon in a remote, desolate place, as on a desert island.

   After the harrowing stories of being marooned at sea and stranded in the frozen wastelands of Alaska and the Poles, one would think that survival on dry land would be easier […]

   2010, Brogan Steele, From the Jaws of Death: Extreme True Adventures of Man vs. Nature, St. Martin's Griffin, →ISBN, page 231

   3 more examples

   Hard-hit by the Arctic winter, the Waverley route was completely closed from January 6-9, when an avalanche between Whitrope and Riccarton marooned Class A2 4-6-2 No. 60535 Hornet's Beauty.

   1963 April, “Winter on the Waverley”, in Modern Railways, page 281, photo caption

   “The morphology of the fossil teeth also suggests that this human lineage represents a dwarfed descendant of early Homo erectus that somehow got marooned on the island of Flores,” Yousuke Kaifu, from Tokyo’s National Museum of Nature and Science, said in a statement.

   2016 June 9, James Griffiths, “This is how the ‘Hobbits’ of Indonesia became so small”, in CNN, archived from the original on 11 Apr 2021

   The Trump administration’s argument, that no court could order it to retrieve Abrego Garcia despite his being deported by mistake, has broader implications: It means that the administration could similarly maroon U.S. citizens abroad “by mistake” and abandon them.

   2025 April 10, Adam Serwer, “The Confrontation Between Trump and the Supreme Court Has Arrived”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 22 Apr 2025

plural maroons

1. countableuncountableA rich dark red, somewhat brownish, color.

   Is it a really dark maroon or a lighter maroon or a maroon that leans toward the red side? Or the magenta side? To address this issue, scientists use something called a color space.

   2009, Ben Long, The Nikon D90 Companion: Practical Photography Advice You Can Take Anywhere, O'Reilly Media, Inc., →ISBN, page 176

comparative more maroon · superlative most maroon

1. Of a dark red or reddish-brown color.

plural maroons

1. nauticalA rocket-propelled firework or skyrocket, often one used as a signal (for example, to summon the crew of a lifeboat or warn of an air raid).

   As the evening falls, colored lamps and Chinese lanterns are lighted around the venerable oak which stands in the middle of the fairground and boys climb about among its topmost branches with maroons and Bengal lights.

   1891, Alexander Kielland, “At the Fair”, in William Archer, transl., Tales of Two Countries, New York: Harper, page 73

   4 more examples

   On Sunday afternoon a serious firework explosion occurred in Lambeth, whereby three persons were seriously injured. Two lads […] purchased a firework called a “maroon”, which is a bomb consisting of a small ball of string covered with a red composition. It is loaded with gunpowder, and there is also a fuse attached.

   1887 November 5, “Metropolitan Reports”, in The Chemist and Druggist, page 564

   Many a seaman’s life may have depended on equine speed and strength. Some of these ‘Lifeboat Horses’ used to recognise the maroon which was fired to summon the Lifeboat crew. Long after its retirement one of the horses which regularly helped to haul the Hoylake Lifeboat heard a maroon fired one day when it was working in the neighbouring fields. It immediately became very excited and made for the boathouse.

   1900, Alan C. Jenkins, Introducing Horses, London: Spring Books

   tallboys […] And now I am off to inspect stores. There is a shortage of maroons that I don't understand. / the countess. What a pity! I love maroons. They have such nice ones at that confectioner's near the Place Vendôme. / tallboys. Oh, youre thinking of marrons glacés. No: maroons are fireworks: things that go off with a bang. For signalling.

   1931 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Too True to Be Good: A Political Extravaganza”, in Too True to Be Good, Village Wooing & On the Rocks. Three Plays, London: Constable and Company, published 1934, →OCLC, Act II, page 58

   The big air raids […] were much more dreadful than the air raids of the World War. They began with a nightmare of warning maroons, sirens, hooters and the shrill whistles of cyclist scouts, then swarms of frantic people running to and fro, […]

   1933 September, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Last War Cyclone, 1940–50”, in The Shape of Things to Come, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, 2nd book (The Days after Tomorrow: The Age of Frustration), page 203

plural maroons

1. derogatoryslangAn idiot; a fool.

   At least, I would not be sleeping that night. Why did I have that espresso? What a maroon!

   2011, S. Watts Taylor, Tarnish, iUniverse, published 2011, →ISBN, page 21

   Synonyms: alcatote, asshat, arsehole, asshole, bayard, berk, birdbrain, blither

plural Maroons

1. alternativeAlternative form of maroon (“descendant of escaped slaves”).

plural Maroons

1. A surname.

plural Maroons

1. AustraliaA member of the Queensland State of Origin rugby league team, who wear maroon-coloured jerseys.