rum

plural rums · alternative rhum

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

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

   3 more examples

   ... 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 ...

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

   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.

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

   — Why is rum gone? — One, because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels!

   2003, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

   1. countableA serving of rum.

      Jake tossed down three rums.

   2. countableA kind or brand of rum.

      Bundaberg is one of my favourite rums.

2. countableuncountableinexactA similar spirit distilled from similar preparations of sugarbeets, sorghum, etc.
3. countableobsoleteslanguncountableA strange person or thing.

   Synonyms: odd duck, abnormality

4. countableobsoleteslanguncountableA country parson.

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

   1729, Jonathan Swift, The Grand Question Debated of Hamilton's Bawn

comparative rummer · superlative rummest

1. obsoleteFine, excellent, valuable.First known use 16th c.

   having a rum time

   Synonyms: exceptional

2. UKdatedinformalStrange, peculiar.First known use 18th c.

   a rum idea; a rum fellow

   5 more examples

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

   1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC

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

   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

   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.

   1878, Henry James, An International Episode

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

   1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian

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

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

   Synonyms: bizarre

plural rums

1. UKcolloquialdatedAny odd person or thing.

1. rareThe card game rummy.

1. alternativearchaicobsoleteAlternative form of Rome: Rome (a major city in Italy).

alternative Rûm

1. historicalAn eyalet in the Ottoman Empire.

   Synonyms: Sivas

2. historicalA former polity in Anatolia, a Seljuk sultanate.
3. archaicSynonym of Anatolia and the Byzantine Empire in historical Turkish contexts.

   Synonyms: Anatolia and the Byzantine Empire in historical Turkish contexts

1. alternativeAlternative form of Rùm, an island of the Inner Hebrides, Highland council area, Scotland, United Kingdom.

1. abbreviationinitialismuncountablecomputingInitialism of real user monitoring.

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

   2009, Alistair Croll, Sean Power, Complete Web Monitoring: Watching your visitors, performance, communities, and competitors, O'Reilly, →ISBN, page 354