dram

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dragme, also drame and dram,^[2] borrowed from Old French drame, a variant of dragme,^{[3][4][5][6][7]} and directly borrowed from Medieval Latin drama, a variant of dragma, used in Anglo-Latin.^[8][9][3][4] These come from Late Latin dragma, from Latin drachma,^{[10][9][8][11]} from Ancient Greek δραχμή (drakhmḗ), an Athenian weight and silver coin,^[7][4][9] literally "a handful", originally of six obols, the least valuable coins.^[9][10][12] The Greek noun is related to δράσσομαι (drássomai, “to grasp”) and δράγμα (drágma, “a handful, a sheaf”);^[7][4][10] Merriam-Webster connects it further with target.^[10] The OED treats dram as a phonetic spelling of the earlier drachm,^[13][9][14] and the Latin word is also the source of dirham.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An apothecaries' weight of one eighth of an ounce: a dram, crushed and drunk with fresh milk, in Lelamour's translation of Macer, dated about 1373 though known from a manuscript of about 1465.^[2][8] The form dragme is recorded before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus.^[2][8] The OED's first records are from about 1440, and Etymonline dates the word to the mid-15th century.^[13][9]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the Greek weight, used as an apothecaries' measure, and in the 15th and early 16th centuries also the Greek coin, the drachma.^[13][3] A figurative sense, a small amount, especially of talent, is recorded from about 1425.^[2][8] The fluid dram, an eighth of a fluid ounce of medicine, appears about 1590,^[13] and led to the sense "a small drink of spirits", recorded from 1713 in Etymonline,^[9][13] which gave the dram shop where liquor was sold by the shot (1725).^[9] Johnson (1755) defined it first as a weight, the eighth part of an ounce.^[15] In Scottish and Yorkshire dialect a dram was a glass of whisky or any drink.^[16] A verb, to drink drams or tipple, is recorded from 1740, and to give drams to someone from 1770;^[13] both are now archaic.^[10][3] The word is now chiefly American as a measure.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1373 – dram, an apothecaries' weight of one eighth of an ounce.^[2][8]
• before 1398 – the form dragme.^[2][8]
• c. 1425 – figuratively, a small amount, especially of talent.^[2][8] The OED's first figurative use is from 1566.^[13]
• c. 1440 – the ancient Greek coin, the drachma (obsolete by 1526).^[13]
• c. 1590 – a fluid dram of medicine.^[13]
• 1713 – a small drink of spirits.^[9][3]
• 1740 – verb, to drink drams, to tipple.^[13]
• 1770 – verb, to give drams to.^[13]
• 1878 – in Canada and the United States, a section of a raft of staves.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A unit of avoirdupois weight, one sixteenth of an ounce (about 27.34 grains).^[10][17]
2. A unit of apothecaries' weight, one eighth of an ounce or 60 grains; also called a drachm.^[10][17][13]
3. A fluid dram, one eighth of a fluid ounce.^[10][13]
4. A small drink of spirits, especially whisky; a tot: He poured himself a dram of rum before bed.^[17][10][13]
5. A small amount of anything.^[13][3]
6. (obsolete, c. 1440–1526) The ancient Greek coin, the drachma.^[13][3]

Verb

1. (archaic) To drink liquor; to tipple.^[10][13][3]
2. (archaic) To give a drink of liquor to someone.^[10][13]

Word family

• dramshop

Related words

• drachm
• drachma
• dirham
• target

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the Shorter Oxford also record dram as the basic monetary unit of Armenia, first known from 1992; it is a borrowing from Armenian, where the word means coin or money, ultimately from the same Greek word.^[10][3][6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
17. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins