Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Unfermented or partly fermented grape juice; must.
  • noun Vapid wine renewed by an admixture of stum.
  • transitive verb To ferment (vapid wine) by adding stum.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Unfermented or partly fermented grape-juice.
  • To prevent from fermenting; operate upon (wine) in a manner to prevent after-fermentation in casks.
  • To fume with sulphur or brimstone, as a cask.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Unfermented grape juice or wine, often used to raise fermentation in dead or vapid wines; must.
  • noun Wine revived by new fermentation, reulting from the admixture of must.
  • transitive verb To renew, as wine, by mixing must with it and raising a new fermentation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun unfermented grape juice; must
  • verb transitive to ferment
  • verb transitive to renew (wine etc.) by mixing must with it and raising a new fermentation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Dutch stom, dumb, stum, from Middle Dutch.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word stum.

Examples

  • I have already written my moans on her blog so I ` m keeping stum

    Featuring Phillipa Newmania 2007

  • California - based computer company is keep stum, for the moment.

    CNN Transcript Dec 28, 2009 2009

  • The daft thing about how the bBC protects muslims and the like by keeping stum is in doing so they give credence to the likes of the BNP.

    I knew I would be writing this post. 2009

  • Lots ov birdies hit r winnows & stum themselfs badly.

    Fail. - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2008

  • You keep stum about nulab's lying Chancellor and Prime Minister, applaud while they destroy our country, erode our democracy, freedom and civil liberties - yet scream your head off when Boris Johnson tells the truth, albeit a bit indiscreetly.

    Looks Like Boris Had a Point... 2007

  • No doubt little will get done while they stay stum..

    The cost of democracy for the YouTube Generation 2007

  • Did anyone else notice in the followup Q&A when someone asked Bush how he learned about the kid…sure seemed as he stum-fumbled for an answer that he found out the Katrina way…on a staff-made DVD.

    Firedoglake » Hang On, It Might Be a Bumpy Ride 2006

  • We raced up the gully knee to knee, and then it was down a rocky scree, with our beasts slithering and stum bling, and on to level ground, while faintly behind us the clash of steel mingled with yelling voices, one of them raised in what sounded like a war-cry.

    Flashman on the March Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 2005

  • And had she not stum-bled-ka: aye, he had no doubt of it-the shot would have taken his head off instead of his leg, and then the game would have been over, because -

    The Dark Tower King, Stephen 2004

  • The next rank staggered and stopped as the sludge gas enveloped it; the dwarves stum - bled and fell, senseless, coughing and retching.

    Flint, the King Kirchoff, Mary 2003

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Strong new wine, used for strengthening weak liquor. Stum'd = strengthened. According to Howell, stooming wine was effected by putting herbs and infusions into it. According to Blount, "Stum is wine that has never fermented".

    James Halliwell, Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1855

    There strength of fancy to it sweetness joyous, Unmixt with water, nor stum'd with strong lines.

    Alexander Brome, Song and Other Poems, 1661

    February 4, 2009

  • its an anagram of must: two words describing the same item with two different anagrams. What are others? I see a new list coming. I bet its been done before.

    January 14, 2010

  • I have a few on Odd Anagrams (vile, evil; parental, paternal; enraged, angered), but it's not restricted to such.

    January 14, 2010