dram - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Noun
dram (plural drams)
- (units of measurement) A small unit of weight, variously:
- Alternative form of drachm (“One sixteenth of an ounce avoirdupois (1.77 g; symbol: ʒ)”).
- (pharmacy) Alternative form of drachm (“One eighth of an ounce apothecary (3.89 g; symbol: ʒ)”).
- (now uncommon) 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 ℔).*1
- (obsolete) Synonym of drachma: a former Greek unit of weight (about 4.3 g).
- (by extension) 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.2
- ✤ 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 […]3
- ✤ Oh, brethren, if you wants more preachin’
Save a little dram for me (Glory hallelujah!)
Drinkin’ gin ain’t against my teachin’4- ✤ Connoisseurs may prefer to savour their dram of single malt straight up. But, for beverage companies, that’s not where the growth is.5
- (historical, mining) 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.6
- (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 […]
Verb
dram (third-person singular simple present drams, present participle dramming, simple past and past participle drammed)
- (dated, intransitive) 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.7
- (dated, transitive) 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.8
Noun
dram (plural drams)
- (numismatics) The currency of Armenia, divided into 100 luma.
Etymology 1
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.
Pronunciation
Etymology 2
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”).
Pronunciation
Printed 2026-09-04.
(echo:: @ ⌗)
Footnotes
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1888, W.M.F. Petrie, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. XXIV, s.v. “Weights and Measures”: ↩
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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: ↩
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1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, pages 281–282: ↩
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1920, Marshall Walker, Will E. Skidmore, “Save a Little Dram for Me”, performed by Bert Williams: ↩
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2025 December 27, “Cocktails in a can are the new frontier for drooping drinks giants”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18: ↩
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1946 November and December, “The Saundersfoot Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 340: ↩
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1857, Samuel Griswold Goodrich, Recollections of a Lifetime: ↩
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1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC: ↩