Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words (original) (raw)

adjective

    1. a loudly exploding firework consisting of a cardboard container filled with gunpowder.
    2. a similar firework used as a danger or warning signal, as by railway brakemen.

verb (used with object)

  1. to put ashore and abandon on a desolate island or coast by way of punishment or the like, as was done by buccaneers.
  2. to place in an isolated and often dangerous position:
    The rising floodwaters marooned us on top of the house.
  3. to abandon and leave without aid or resources:
    Having lost all his money, he was marooned in the strange city.

noun

  1. (often initial capital letter) any of a group of Black people, descended from fugitive slaves of the 17th and 18th centuries, living in the West Indies and Guiana, especially in mountainous areas.
  2. a person who is marooned:
    Robinson Crusoe lived for years as a maroon.

/ məˈruːn /

verb

  1. to leave ashore and abandon, esp on an island
  2. to isolate without resources

noun

  1. a descendant of a group of runaway slaves living in the remoter areas of the Caribbean or Guyana
  2. informal.
    a person who has been marooned, esp on an island

/ məˈruːn /

noun

    1. a dark red to purplish-red colour
    2. ( as adjective )
      a maroon carpet
  2. an exploding firework, esp one used as a warning signal

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Word History and Origins

Origin of maroon1

First recorded in

1585–95;

from French marron literally, “chestnut (nut and color), firecracker,” Middle French, from Italian marrone “chestnut, brown”; further origin unknown

Origin of maroon2

First recorded in

1660–70;

from French mar(r)on, apparently from Colonial Spanish cimarrón “wild”; first used in reference to domestic animals that escaped into the woods, later to people who escaped slavery; cimarron

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Word History and Origins

Origin of maroon1

C17 (applied to fugitive slaves): from American Spanish cimarrón wild, literally: dwelling on peaks, from Spanish cima summit

Origin of maroon2

C18: from French, literally: chestnut,

marron 1