stum

plural stums

1. countableobsoleteuncountableUnfermented grape juice; must.

   1620s, Ben Jonson, Leges Convivales Let our wines, without mixture of stum, be all fine.

   1 more example

   And with thy stum ferment their fainting cause.

   1682, John Dryden, The Medal

2. countableobsoleteuncountableWine revived by new fermentation, resulting from the admixture of must.

   But stum wine was not intended for drinking.

   1987, André Bustanoby, The Wrath of Grapes: Drinking and the Church Divided, →ISBN, page 36

   2 more examples

   Drink ev'ry letter on't in stum, And make it brisk champaign become.

   1664, Samuel Butler, Hudibras; with notes by T. R. Nash, volume 1, published 1835, Part II, Canto 1, page 265

   To each hogshead of genuine Bordeaux wine, there are four gallons of Benicarlo, half a gallon of stum wine, and a small quantity of Hermitage added, which mixture undergoes a slight fermentation, and is then exported under the name of claret.

   1859, The family manual and servants' guide, 9th edition

present singular third person stums · participle present stumming · participle past stummed · past stummed

1. obsoletetransitiveTo ferment.
2. obsoletetransitiveTo renew (wine etc.) by mixing must with it and raising a new fermentation.

   We stum our crude wines […]to renew their spirits.

   1696, John Floyer, The praeternatural State of animal Hurnours described by their sensible Qualities

3. obsoletetransitiveTo fume, as a cask of liquor, with burning sulphur.

   Since I have taken this method with cyder, it has proved more like wine than common drink, but then I racked it off a second and a third time, as soon as it appeared fine, and then stummed the cask that received it the lasttime […]

   1789, “Cultivation of the Vine”, in Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, volume 1

plural Stums

1. A surname from Dutch.