maroon

noun

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

   “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).
3. (countable, uncountable)A rich dark red, somewhat brownish, color.

   “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.”

4. 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).

   “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, […]”

5. (derogatory, slang)An idiot; a fool.

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

6. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of maroon (“descendant of escaped slaves”).
7. (Australia)A member of the Queensland State of Origin rugby league team, who wear maroon-coloured jerseys.

adj

1. (not-comparable)Associated with Maroon culture, communities or peoples.

   “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” […]”

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

verb

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

   “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.”

name

1. A surname.