dram

See also: DRAM, Dram, and dràm

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English dragme, dramme, from Old French dragme, drame, from Late Latin dragma, from Latin drachma, from Ancient Greek δραχμή (drakhmḗ, “unit of weight; a handful”). Doublet of drachma, diram, dirham, dirhem, and adarme.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɹæm/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æm

Noun

dram (plural drams)

1. (units of measurement) A small unit of weight, variously:
   1. Alternative form of drachm (“One sixteenth of an ounce avoirdupois (1.77 g; symbol: ℨ or ʒ)”).
   2. (pharmacy) Alternative form of drachm (“One eighth of an ounce apothecary (3.89 g; symbol: ℨ or ʒ)”).
   3. (now uncommon) Synonym of dirhem: a former Turkish unit of weight (variously 1.5–3.5 g).
      • 1888, W.M.F. Petrie, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. XXIV, s.v. "Weights and Measures":

        Dram (49·5 grains), 100=chequi, 4=oka (2·8286 ℔); dram (49·5 grains), 180=rotl, 100=kintal or kantar (127·29 ℔).

   4. (obsolete) Synonym of drachma: a former Greek unit of weight (about 4.3 g).
3. (by extension) Any similarly minute quantity, (now particularly) a small amount of strong alcohol or poison.

   a dram of brandy

   • 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC:

     Were I the chooser, a dram of well-doing should be preferred before many times as much the forcible hindrance of evildoing.

   • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, pages 281–282:

     When Friday came to him I bade him ſpeak to him, and tell him of his Deliverance, and pulling out my Bottle, made him give the poor Wretch a Dram, which, with the News of his being deliver'd, reviv'd him, and he ſat up in the Boat […]

   • 1920, Marshall Walker, Will E. Skidmore, “Save a Little Dram for Me”‎performed by Bert Williams:

     Oh, brethren, if you wants more preachin'
     Save a little dram for me (Glory hallelujah!)
     Drinkin' gin ain't against my teachin'

4. (historical, mining) A cart formerly used to haul coal in coal mines.
   • 1946 November and December, “The Saundersfoot Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 340:

     The rolling stock, consisting entirely of four-wheel open trucks, or drams, was broken up at Bonvilles Court Colliery.

5. (obsolete) Synonym of drachma: a Greek silver coin weighing one drachma; other similar coins.
   • The Bible (King James Version), Ezra 2:69

     They gave after their ability unto the treasure of the work threescore and one thousand drams [i.e., the Persian daric] of gold, and five thousand pound of silver […]

Synonyms

• (small amount of something): mite, smidge, smidgeon, bit, pinch
• (small amount of alcohol): see nip

Derived terms

• angel's dram
• dramless
• dramseller
• dramshop
• dram shop liability
• fluidram

Descendants

• → Danish: dram
  • → Faroese: drammur
  • → Norwegian: dram
• → Scottish Gaelic: dràm

Translations

¹⁄₁₆ ounce avoirdupois

Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can Finnish: dram (fi) Polish: drachma (pl) f Portuguese: dracma (pt) f

¹⁄₈ ounce apothecary — see drachm

Greek weight — see drachma

Turkish weight — see dirhem

minute quantity

Bulgarian: капка (bg) f (kapka) Finnish: hitunen (fi), hiven (fi), hyppysellinen (fi) (solid, also figuratively); tilkka (fi), tilkkanen (liquid) Italian: nonnulla (it) m, virgola (it) Polish: kapka (pl) f Portuguese: dedo (pt) m

small quantity of an alcoholic drink

Bulgarian: капка (bg) f (kapka) Danish: dram c Faroese: drammur m Finnish: tuikku (fi), naukku (fi), huikka (fi), tilkkanen German: Kurzer (de) m Norman: dranme f Polish: kieliszek alkoholu m Portuguese: dedo (pt) m Scottish Gaelic: dràm m

Verb

dram (third-person singular simple present drams, present participle dramming, simple past and past participle drammed)

1. (dated, intransitive) To drink drams.
   • 1857, Samuel Griswold Goodrich, Recollections of a Lifetime:

     What I contend against is, this dramming, dramming, dramming, at all hours of the day. There are some men who take a glass at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and at four in the afternoon.

2. (dated, transitive) To ply with drams of drink.
   • 1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC:

     The parents […] are getting ready their daughter for sale […] praying her, and imploring her, and dramming her, and coaxing her.

Etymology 2

From Armenian դրամ (dram), from Middle Persian 𐭦𐭥𐭦𐭭 (zʿzn /⁠drahm⁠/), from Ancient Greek δραχμή (drakhmḗ, “unit of weight, a handful”), from δράσσομαι (drássomai, “I hold, seize”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɹæm/, /dɹɑm/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Armenian dram

Wikipedia

dram (plural drams)

1. (numismatics) The currency of Armenia, divided into 100 luma.

Translations

currency unit of Armenia

Armenian: դրամ (hy) (dram) Bulgarian: драм m (dram) Chinese: Mandarin: 德拉姆 (délāmǔ) Finnish: dram (fi) Georgian: დრამი (drami) Greek: ντραμ (el) n (ntram) Navajo: dwam Polish: dram (pl) m Portuguese: dram (pt) m Romanian: dram (ro) m Russian: драм (ru) m (dram)

Anagrams

• arm'd, ARMD, armd., mard, AMDR, RADM, Adm'r, RAdm

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from English dram, from Old French drame, variant of dragme.

Noun

dram c (singular definite drammen, plural indefinite dramme or drammer)

1. dram (a small quantity of an alcoholic drink)

Inflection

Declension of dram

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	dram	drammen	dramme drammer	drammene drammerne
genitive	drams	drammens	drammes drammers	drammenes drammernes

Descendants

• → Faroese: drammur
• → Norwegian: dram

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑm

Verb

dram

1. inflection of drammen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Anagrams

• darm, R'dam

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from English dram, from Old French drame, from Latin drachma, from Ancient Greek δραχμή (drakhmḗ). Doublet of drakme.

Noun

dram m (definite singular drammen, indefinite plural drammer, definite plural drammene)

1. a dram, nip, shot (usually of akvavit)

References

• “dram” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “dram” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from English dram, from Old French drame, from Latin drachma, from Ancient Greek δραχμή (drakhmḗ). Doublet of drakme.

Noun

dram m (definite singular drammen, indefinite plural drammar, definite plural drammane)

1. a dram, nip, shot (usually of akvavit)
2. a drink (alcohol)

   Eg skal til kroa og ta meg ein liten dram

   I'm going to the pub to take a drink

References

• “dram” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Frisian

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *draum.

Noun

drām m

1. a dream

Inflection

Declension of drām (masculine a-stem)

	singular	plural
nominative	drām	drāmar, drāma
accusative	drām	drāmar, drāma
genitive	drāmes	drāma
dative	drāme	drāmum, drāmem

Descendants

• North Frisian: drom
• Saterland Frisian: Droom
• West Frisian: dream

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdram/
• Rhymes: -am
• Syllabification: dram

Noun

dram f

1. genitive plural of drama

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdram/
• Rhymes: -am

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Greek δράμι (drámi), from Byzantine Greek δράμι (drámi), from Arabic دِرْهَم (dirham), from Middle Persian 𐭦𐭥𐭦𐭭 (drahm), from Ancient Greek δραχμή f (drakhmḗ, “drachma”).

Noun

dram n (plural dramuri)

1. (historical) dram (unit of measurement)
2. (figurative) tiny amount

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	dram	dramul		dramuri	dramurile
genitive-dative	dram	dramului		dramuri	dramurilor
vocative	dramule			dramurilor

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Armenian դրամ (dram), from Middle Persian 𐭦𐭥𐭦𐭭 (drahm), from Ancient Greek δραχμή (drakhmḗ).

Noun

dram m (plural drami)

1. (numismatics) dram (currency of Armenia)

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	dram	dramul		drami	dramii
genitive-dative	dram	dramului		drami	dramilor
vocative	dramule			dramilor

References

• “dram”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025