dram
/dɹæm/
dram noun: synonym of dirhem: a former Turkish unit of weight (variously 1.5–3.5 g). Also the alternative form of drachm.
Noun (1)
dram (plural drams)
- Synonym of dirhem: a former Turkish unit of weight (variously 1.5–3.5 g).
- Dram (49·5 grains), 100=chequi, 4=oka (2·8286 ℔); dram (49·5 grains), 180=rotl, 100=kintal or kantar (127·29 ℔).1888, W.M.F. Petrie, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. XXIV, s.v. "Weights and Measures"
- Synonyms:
- dirhem
- Synonym of drachma: a former Greek unit of weight (about 4.3 g).
- Synonyms:
- drachma
- Any similarly minute quantity, (now particularly) a small amount of strong alcohol or poison.
- a dram of brandy
- Were I the chooser, a dram of well-doing should be preferred before many times as much the forcible hindrance of evildoing.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
- A cart formerly used to haul coal in coal mines.
- The rolling stock, consisting entirely of four-wheel open trucks, or drams, was broken up at Bonvilles Court Colliery.1946 November and December, “The Saundersfoot Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 340
- Synonym of drachma: a Greek silver coin weighing one drachma; other similar coins.
- 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 […]The Bible (King James Version), Ezra 2:69
- Synonyms:
- drachma
Verb
dram (third-person singular simple present drams, present participle dramming, simple past and past participle drammed)
- To drink drams.
- 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.1857, Samuel Griswold Goodrich, Recollections of a Lifetime
- To ply with drams of drink.
- The parents[…]are getting ready their daughter for sale[…]praying her, and imploring her, and dramming her, and coaxing her.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
Noun (2)
dram (plural drams)
Noun (3) capitalized: DRAM
DRAM (countable and uncountable, plural DRAMs)
- Initialism of dynamic random access memory.
Also used as
dram is also the alternative form of drachm.
Synonyms of dram
Forms of dram
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | drams |
| plural | DRAMs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | drams |
| present participle | dramming |
| past participle | drammed |
| past | drammed |
Origin of dram
Inherited from Middle English dragme /dramme, from Old French dragme, 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.
Borrowed from Armenian դրամ (dram), from Middle Persian 𐭦𐭥𐭦𐭭 (ZWZN /drahm/), from Ancient Greek δραχμή (drakhmḗ, “unit of weight, a handful”), from δράσσομαι (drássomai, “to hold, seize”).
Words formed from dram
- SDRAM
- FP DRAM
- EDO DRAM
- angels' dram
- angel's dram
- dramless
- dramseller
- dramshop
- dram shop liability
- fluidram
Words that rhyme with dram
47 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about dram
- What does dram mean?
- Dram means synonym of dirhem: a former Turkish unit of weight (variously 1.5–3.5 g).
- What part of speech is dram?
- Dram can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce dram?
- Dram is pronounced /dɹæm/.
- What is the plural of dram?
- The plural of dram is drams.
Words near dram in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dram (page history and authors); DRAM (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-dram.wav, En-us-dram.ogg.
Cite this entry: “dram.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dram. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.