▪ I. dram, n.1
(dræm)
Also 5 drame, 5–7 dramme.
[phonetic spelling of earlier drachm, dragm, also in OF. drame. See also drachma, dirhem.]
† 1. = drachm 1, the ancient Greek coin. Obs.
| c 1440 Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) i. xlviii, What woman..that hath lost a drame. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 242 A certayne coyne..called a dramme. |
2. A weight,
orig. the ancient Greek
drachma; hence, in Apothecaries' weight, a weight of 60 grains
= 1/
8 of an ounce; in Avoirdupois weight, of 27
1/
3 grains
= 1/
16 of an ounce;
= drachm 2. Also the Arabic
dirhem, used from Morocco to Persia and Abyssinia.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 130/2 Drame, wyghte, drama, dragma. 1555 Eden Decades 12 Stones of gold weighing .x. or .xii. drammes. 1601 Shakes. All's Well ii. iii. 233 Yes good faith, eu'ry dramme of it, and I will not bate thee a scruple. 1741 Compl. Fam. Piece i. i. 27 A Dram of Saffron, tied in a Rag. 1892 W. K. Burton Mod. Photogr. (ed. 10) 17 Four ounces of sulphide of soda..one dram of citric acid. |
3. a. A fluid dram (
= 1/
8 fluid ounce) of medicine, etc.; hence
b. A small draught of cordial, stimulant, or spirituous liquor. Also
fig.| c 1590 Play of Sir Thomas More (Shaks. Soc.) 93 Thou shalt see me take a dramme..Shall cure the stone. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. i. 60 Let me haue A dram of poyson. 1611 ― Wint. T. i. ii. 320. 1642 Rogers Naaman 38 Surely..hee must put more drammes and drugges to the Physicke. 1682 Bunyan Holy War (Cassell) 208, I have a cordial of Mr. Forget-Good's making, the which, sir, if you will take a dram of..it may make you bonny and blithe. 1713 Swift Frenzy of J. Denny Wks. 1755 III. i. 143 The dram, sir? Mr. Lintot drank up all the gin just now. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xv. iv, You certainly want a cordial. I must send to Lady Edgely for one of her best drams. 1752 Scots Mag. July (1753) 338/2 They went in, and drunk some drams. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 145 Unless you keep up their spirits continually with a dram of the same [variety]. 1807 Ann. Reg. 80 They were like a dram given to the country which for the moment might increase its power, but which would be followed by greater languor and debility. 1877 Black Green Past. xxxi, She to her spinning-wheel and he to his long clay and his dram. |
4. fig. (of 2 and 3.)
= drachm 3.
| 1566 Drant Horace, Sat. iii. B iij, No dram he had of constancy. 1646 P. Bulkeley Gospel Covt. i. 77 Wrath, without any dram of mercy to allay the bitternesse of the cup. 1709 Hearne Collect. 11 Mar., Having not one dram of Learning. |
5. Canada and
U.S. A collection of ‘cribs’, forming a section of a raft of staves: see
quot. 1892 and
cf. crib n. 14. (Perh. a distinct word.)
| 1878 Encycl. Brit. IV. 774/2 (Canada) The cribs floated from the far inland timber limits are collected into what are called drams..and so many drams form a raft. 1892 Eng. Illustr. Mag. Sept. 885 A raft is made into sections, or ‘drams’, each..about 200 feet long and fifty feet wide. About ten ‘drams’ make a raft. |
6. attrib. and
Comb. (in sense 3)
dram-bottle,
dram-cup,
dram-dish,
dram-dose,
dram-glass,
dram-house,
dram-pot,
dram-weight;
dram-drinker, one addicted to drinking drams, a tippler;
dram-drinking, tippling.
| 1674 Lond. Gaz. No. 851/4 Two Silver Beakers, and two Silver *Dram Cups. 1762 Goldsm. Cit. W. cii, By flourishing a dice-box in one hand, she generally comes to brandish a dram-cup in the other. |
| 1722 Lond. Gaz. No. 6079/9 One small *Dram Dish. |
| 1744 Berkeley Siris §108 Some tough *dram-drinker. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 554 An old dram drinker or an old opium eater. |
| 1772 Wilmer in Phil. Trans. LXIV. 341 Her old custom of *dram-drinking. |
| 1716 Addison Drummer iii. i, I have a *dram-glass just by. |
| 1752 Scots Mag. Aug. (1753) 393/2 They drank two or three drams at a *dram-house. |
| 1691 Songs Costume (Percy Soc.) 197 And make themselves drunk with their *dram-pots. |
| 1611 Florio, Dramma, a *Dram-waight. 1632 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 88 Sell not one dram-weight of God's truth. |
▪ II. dram, n.2 [Short for Drammen.] Timber from Drammen in Norway. Also
attrib.| 1663 Gerbier Counsel 64 Yellow Fur (called Dram) being very good. 1676 Phil. Trans. XI. 721 You must take the finest streightest grain of your Dram deal. 1858 Skyring's Builders' Prices 62 It is customary to allow four cuts..when cut by the load, and two to the Berwick or dram, ditto. |
▪ III. dram, v. [f. dram n.1] 1. intr. To drink drams; to tipple.
| 1715 [see drammer below]. 1752 H. Walpole Lett. 28 Aug., Melancholy..is not strong enough, and he grows to dram with horror. 1755 Connoisseur No. 53 ¶5 To dram it by authority, and to get tipsy secundum artem. |
2. trans. To give a dram or drams to; to ply with stimulants.
| 1770 Warton Newsman's Verses (D.), Dram your poor newsman clad in rags. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes xxviii. (1868) II. 335 The parents..are getting ready their daughter for sale..praying her, and imploring her, and dramming her, and coaxing her. |
Hence
ˈdramming vbl. n.; also
ˈdrammer,
ˈdrammist.
| 1715 Cheyne Philos. Conject. & Disc. (L.), Habitual drinkers, drammers, and high feeders. 1755 Hales in Phil. Trans. XLIX. 332 The most zealous advocates for drams, even the unhappy besotted dramists themselves. 1771 Franklin Autobiog. Wks. 1887 I. 74 Whether they discover'd his dramming by his breath, or by his behaviour. |
▪ IV. † dram, a. Sc. [Origin uncertain. Cf. Gael. trom, heavy, sad, melancholy.] Sad, melancholy.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lii. 23, I pray That never dolour mak him dram. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. Prol. 157 Quhat honestie or renoun is to be dram? 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. x. 16 Paill of the face..Deid eyit, dram lyke. |