maroon — English Dictionary

maroon
Pronunciations (3)
  • /məˈɹuːn/
  • /məˈɹəʉn/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Australia
  • /məˈɹʉːn/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Australia

Noun

  1. An escaped black slave of the Caribbean and the Americas or a descendant of such a person.

    Synonyms
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    Further north a Maroon community in the Bahoruco Mountains thrived for eighty-five years, until the French proposed a truce under the terms of which the Maroons would be permitted to form an independent clan.

    Joining others who had escaped before them, they formed communities of Maroons in which many traditional African customs and social mores were preserved.

  2. A castaway; a person who has been marooned (abandoned).

Adjective

  1. Associated with Maroon culture, communities or peoples.

    Usage
    • not-comparable
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    In her discussion of Michelle Cliff's Abeng, a novel that historicizes maroon culture and the Jamaican warrior heroine Nanny of the Maroons, Francoise Lionnet examines linguistic “metissage” […]

Verb

  1. To abandon in a remote, desolate place, as on a desert island.

    Examples
    More examples (3)

    Hard-hit by the Arctic winter, the Waverley route was completely closed from January 6-9, when an avalanche between Whitrope and Riccarton marooned Class A2 4-6-2 No. 60535 Hornet's Beauty.

    After the harrowing stories of being marooned at sea and stranded in the frozen wastelands of Alaska and the Poles, one would think that survival on dry land would be easier […]

    The Trump administration’s argument, that no court could order it to retrieve Abrego Garcia despite his being deported by mistake, has broader implications: It means that the administration could similarly maroon U.S. citizens abroad “by mistake” and abandon them.

Noun

  1. A rich dark red, somewhat brownish, color.

    Usage
    • Countable
    • Uncountable
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    Is it a really dark maroon or a lighter maroon or a maroon that leans toward the red side? Or the magenta side? To address this issue, scientists use something called a color space.

Adjective

  1. Of a dark red or reddish-brown color.

Noun

  1. A rocket-propelled firework or skyrocket, often one used as a signal (for example, to summon the crew of a lifeboat or warn of an air raid).

    Examples
    More examples (5)

    On Sunday afternoon a serious firework explosion occurred in Lambeth, whereby three persons were seriously injured. Two lads […] purchased a firework called a “maroon”, which is a bomb consisting of a small ball of string covered with a red composition. It is loaded with gunpowder, and there is also a fuse attached.

    As the evening falls, colored lamps and Chinese lanterns are lighted around the venerable oak which stands in the middle of the fairground and boys climb about among its topmost branches with maroons and Bengal lights.

    Many a seaman’s life may have depended on equine speed and strength. Some of these ‘Lifeboat Horses’ used to recognise the maroon which was fired to summon the Lifeboat crew. Long after its retirement one of the horses which regularly helped to haul the Hoylake Lifeboat heard a maroon fired one day when it was working in the neighbouring fields. It immediately became very excited and made for the boathouse.

    tallboys […] And now I am off to inspect stores. There is a shortage of maroons that I don't understand. / the countess. What a pity! I love maroons. They have such nice ones at that confectioner's near the Place Vendôme. / tallboys. Oh, youre thinking of marrons glacés. No: maroons are fireworks: things that go off with a bang. For signalling.

    The big air raids […] were much more dreadful than the air raids of the World War. They began with a nightmare of warning maroons, sirens, hooters and the shrill whistles of cyclist scouts, then swarms of frantic people running to and fro, […]

Noun

  1. An idiot; a fool.

    Usage
    • Derogatory
    • Slang
    Examples

    At least, I would not be sleeping that night. Why did I have that espresso? What a maroon!

Adjective

  1. of dark brownish to purplish red

    Synonyms

Noun

  1. a person who is stranded (as on an island)

    Examples

    when the tide came in I was a maroon out there

  2. a dark purplish-red to dark brownish-red color

  3. an exploding firework used as a warning signal

    Broader terms

Verb

  1. leave stranded or isolated with little hope of rescue

    Synonyms
    Examples

    the travellers were marooned

  2. leave stranded on a desert island without resources

    Broader terms
    Examples

    The mutinous sailors were marooned on an island

Word forms
maroonsMaroonmaroonsmarooningmaroonedmaroonedmore maroonmost maroon

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