Dictionary entry

Dram

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Dram (drăm), n. [OF. drame, F. drachme, L. drachma, drachm, drachma, fr. Gr. δραχμή, prop., a handful, fr. δράσσεσθαι to grasp. Cf. Drachm, Drachma.] 1. A weight; in Apothecaries' weight, one eighth part of an ounce, or sixty grains; in Avoirdupois weight, one sixteenth part of an ounce, or 27.34375 grains.

2. A minute quantity; a mite.

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

3. As much spirituous liquor as is usually drunk at once; as, a dram of brandy; hence, a potation or potion; as, a dram of poison. Shak.

4. (Numis.) A Persian daric. Ezra ii. 69.

Fluid dram, orFluid drachm. See under Fluid.