Part 519

Internal earthquakes, that, not content with one throe, run along spasmodically, like boys playing at what is called drakestone.

De Quincey.

Dram (drm), n. [OF. drame, F. drachme, L. drachma, drachm, drachma, fr. Gr. drachmh`, prop., a handful, fr. dra`ssesqai 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, or Fluid drachm. See under Fluid.

Dram, v. i. & t. To drink drams; to ply with drams. Johnson. Thackeray.

Dra"ma (drä"m or dr"m; 277), n. [L. drama, Gr. dra^ma, fr. dra^n to do, act; cf. Lith. daryti.] 1. A composition, in prose or poetry, accommodated to action, and intended to exhibit a picture of human life, or to depict a series of grave or humorous actions of more than ordinary interest, tending toward some striking result. It is commonly designed to be spoken and represented by actors on the stage.

A divine pastoral drama in the Song of Solomon.

Milton.

2. A series of real events invested with a dramatic unity and interest. "The drama of war." Thackeray.

Westward the course of empire takes its way; The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day; Time's noblest offspring is the last.

Berkeley.

The drama and contrivances of God's providence.

Sharp.

3. Dramatic composition and the literature pertaining to or illustrating it; dramatic literature.

The principal species of the drama are tragedy and comedy; inferior species are tragi-comedy, melodrama, operas, burlettas, and farces.

The romantic drama, the kind of drama whose aim is to present a tale or history in scenes, and whose plays (like those of Shakespeare, Marlowe, and others) are stories told in dialogue by actors on the stage. J. A. Symonds.

{ Dra*mat"ic (?), Dra*mat"ic*al (?), } a. [Gr. &?;, fr. &?;: cf. F. dramatique.] Of or pertaining to the drama; appropriate to, or having the qualities of, a drama; theatrical; vivid.

The emperor . . . performed his part with much dramatic effect.

Motley.

Dra*mat"ic*al*ly, adv. In a dramatic manner; theatrically; vividly.

||Dram"a*tis per*so"næ (?). [L.] The actors in a drama or play.

Dram"a*tist (?), n. [Cf. F. dramatiste.] The author of a dramatic composition; a writer of plays.

Dram"a*ti`za*ble (?), a. Capable of being dramatized.