rum duken.
/ˌrʌm ˈdjuːk/, /ˌrʌm ˈdʒuːk/, U.S. /ˌrəm ˈd(j)uk/, /ˌrəm ˈdʒuk/ A handsome man of high esteem or social class. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Rum-duke, a jolly handsom Man.
1706 G. Farquhar Recruiting Officer ii. iii. 20 You're a Justice of Peace, and you're a King, and I'm a Duke, and a Rum Duke, an't I?
1763 Brit. Mag. 4 372 I..soon acquired the appellations of a rum duke, a queer dog, and a choice spirit.
1793 C. Dibdin Younger Brother II. iv. ix. 274 It may be as well for you to keep a quiet tongue..and the rum duke too.
1884 D. MacRitchie Anc. & Mod. Britons 313 If such a representative of that class as the one recently selected—Prince Rupert—was ever spoken of as a Rum Duke..the expression conveyed, as Pierce Egan tells us, the highest possible respect.
1902 J. H. McCarthy If I were King ii. 42 ‘Now, now, my rum duke,’ he cried, ‘your loyalty need not take fire.’
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1699