Dram (?), n. [OF. drame, F. drachme, L. drachma, drachm, drachma, fr. Gr. , prop., a handful, fr. 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, ∨ Fluid drachm. See under Fluid.
© Webster 1913.
Dram, v. i. & t.
To drink drams; to ply with drams.
[Low]
Johnson. Thackeray.
© Webster 1913.