rumbustion en · NOUN
Etymology
Uncertain. The forms rhum and rumbullion appear around the same time.
Meanings
-
(countable, obsolete, uncountable) Synonym of rum, an alcoholic beverage distilled from sugarcane, similar spirits.
... Partly the Brandewin wherewith we have furnisht him, the spirits of Rombostion, which our men there make him, and other good hopes we give him, he becomes very valiant ...
1652, Mercurius Politicus, No. 90, p. 1435Both rumbullion and rumbustion, two early dialect names, may have referred to the violence that the drink was said to cause.
2001, Barb Bancroft, An Apple a Day..., page 194:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| rumbustions | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| rombostion | alternative | lexicographic |