jorum

English

WOTD – 1 July 2016

An illustration by Sydney Prior Hall for a story entitled “Christmas-tide with the Germans before Paris” in Harper's New Monthly Magazine (January 1886): “The mobile officer […] became still cheerier when, on our return to the hut, it was found that the skillful man in the white cap was waiting for us with a steaming jorum of egg-flip.”

Alternative forms

• joram

Etymology

Uncertain; perhaps from the Hebrew name of Joram, who “brought with him [to King David] vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass” (Bible (King James Version), 2 Samuel 8:10; compare Jeroboam); or from Arabic جَرَّة (jarra, “earthen receptacle”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɔːɹəm/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒoʊɹəm/, /ˈd͡ʒɔɹəm/
• Rhymes: -ɔːɹəm
• Hyphenation: jo‧rum

Noun

jorum (plural jorums)

1. A large vessel for drinking (usually alcoholic beverages).
   • 1773 (first performance), Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer; or, The Mistakes of a Night: A Comedy, by Dr. Goldsmith. Adapted for Theatrical Representation, as Performed at the Theatres-Royal, Drury-Lane and Covent-Garden. Regulated from the Prompt-books, by Permission of the Managers. “The lines distinguished by inverted commas, are omitted in the representation.”, London: Printed for the proprietors, under the direction of John Bell, British Library, Strand, Bookseller to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, published 1791, OCLC 645786039, Act I, scene ii; republished in Bell's British Theatre. Consisting of the Most Esteemed English Plays, volume IX, London: Printed for, and under the direction of, George Cawthorn, British Library, Strand, 1797, OCLC 472479652, page 19:

     Then come, put the jorum about, / And let us be merry and clever, / Our hearts and our liquors are stout, / Here's the Three Jolly Pigeons for ever.

   • 1820, “The Farmer”, in The Harp of Orpheus; Being a Collection of the Best English, Scotch, and Irish Songs, Catches, Glees, Duets, Trios, Quartettos, &c. &c. Also, a Selection of Toasts and Sentiments, Derby, Derbyshire: Printed by and for H. Mozley, Brook-Street, →OCLC, page 212:

     Come each jolly fellow / That loves to be mellow, / Attend unto me, and sit easy: / One jorum in quiet, / My boys, we will try it, / Dull thinking will make a man crazy: […] / I am here as Justice of Quorum; / And in my cabin's fore end, / I've a bed for a friend, / With a clean fire-side and a jorum.

   • 1841, C[harles] Dibdin, Jun., “All in His Glory”, in Charles Dibdin; Thomas [John] Dibdin, Songs, Naval and National, of the Late Charles Dibdin; with a Memoir and Addenda. Collected and Arranged by Thomas Dibdin, Author of “The English Fleet,” “Cabinet,” &c. &c. With Characteristic Sketches by George Cruikshank, London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. (Publisher to the Admiralty.), OCLC 558164904, page 268:

     In battle one day, with a jorum of flip, / Jack, while crossing the deck, began reeling, / And fell, for his leg was shot off at the hip, / But the liquor he just saved from spilling.

   • 1901–1902, Herminie Templeton [Kavanagh], Darby O'Gill and the Good People, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips, published 1903, →OCLC, page 286:

     They ketched hould of aich other, gasping as he stepped down out of the air to the ground, an' wishin' them the top of the avening, he brushed past, walked bould to the bar an' briskly called for three jorums of whusky.

   • 1988, J[ames] F[arl] Powers, “Priestly Fellowship”, in Wheat that Springeth Green, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, ISBN 978-0-394-49609-2; republished New York, N.Y.: The New York Review of Books, 2000, ISBN 978-0-940322-24-0, page 175:

     You see, at that time, in the Duchy of Brunswick, or Braunschweig, now part of Germany, it was the custom for friendly groups to drink from the same receptacle, in this case a jorum, or basin—a good idea, rightly understood, in that it made for communitas, or community, […]

2. (figurative) A large quantity.
   • 1882, Routledge's Every Boy's Annual, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, Warne & Routledge, →OCLC, page 424:

     Let the rain fall as heavily as it pleased, and the sticks be saturated through and through, as we ourselves were often enough! we never failed to boil our jorams of tea!

   • 1955, Fred[erick] Coyne Hamil, Lake Erie Baron: The Story of Colonel Thomas Talbot, Toronto: Macmillan Company of Canada, →OCLC, page 254:

     "There they were," Julius wrote, "one supporting the poor little fellow with her arm—the other pouring jorams of the delicious drink of China down his lilly^[sic] white throat. […]"

3. The contents, or quantity of the contents, of such a vessel.
   • 1812, J. F. N[eville], “A Rondeau by a French Joiner, Who Did Not Know His Letters!”, in Leisure-moments in the Camp and in the Guard-room, York: Printed by Thomas Wilson and Son, for the Author; and sold by J. Hatchard, bookseller to Her Majesty, opposite Albany, Piccadilly, London; and by J. and G. Todd, Stonegate, York, →OCLC, page 13:

     To cure you at once of sciatical pains, / That hamper your body in dolorous pains, / And keep you confin'd in your sheets without motion, / Take me two jorams of wine for a potion, / Reserving two glasses by way of a lotion, / Which warm you'll apply to the part that's affected, / Then tip the remainder, as I have directed, / To cure you.

   • 1833 July, “No. III. Evenings at Saint's, by the Society of Free Fellows”, in Sumner Lincoln Fairfield, editor, The North American Magazine, volume II, number IX, Philadelphia, Pa.: C. Sherman & Co., No 19 St James Street. Office of Publication, 29 South Tenth Street, →OCLC, page 192:

     Let Politicians a' gae daft, / Their tricks, how I abhor 'em! / Di'el nick the silly, wily craft, / They're no worth half a jorum. / So push about.

   • 1843, William Goodman, The Social History of Great Britain During the Reigns of the Stuarts, Beginning with the Seventeenth Century, Being the Period of Settling the United States. With Numerous Engravings, volume I, New York, N.Y.: William H. Colyer, No. 5 Hague-street, →OCLC, page 116:

     At Christmas he entertained his tenants and tradesmen in this ball, when, with jorums after jorums, / "Let the horn go rounde, / Let the quart pot sounde, / Let each one do as he's done to;" Beaumont.

Related terms

• jar (possibly related)