maroon
maroon Lexical Profile
maroon Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Of a dark brownish-red or purplish-red color.
"The university marching band wore crisp white trousers and maroon jackets."
• noun
A dark brownish-red or purplish-red color resembling that of a chestnut.
"She painted the dining room accent wall a deep shade of maroon."
Historically, a formerly enslaved person in the Caribbean, Central America, or South America who escaped and established an independent settlement in remote terrain, or a descendant of such a community.
"Historians have extensively documented how the maroons of Jamaica defended their autonomous mountain communities."
British A firework or pyrotechnic device that produces a loud bang and a bright flash, used especially as a warning signal.
"The coastguard fired a maroon to alert the volunteer lifeboat crew to the emergency."
• verb
To leave someone trapped and isolated in an inaccessible place, especially on an uninhabited island or remote coast.
"A sudden winter blizzard threatened to maroon the hikers at the mountain refuge for several days."
• Rhymes for maroon
Word Origin & Etymology
The word represents a homograph with two distinct origins: the color term derives from French 'marron' ('chestnut'), while the sense relating to escaped enslaved people and stranding comes from French 'marron', a shortening of Spanish 'cimarrón' ('wild, untamed, or runaway').