/ məˈruːn; NAmE / adjective , noun , verb
■ adjective
dark brownish-red in colour
■ noun
1.
[ U ] a dark brownish-red colour
2.
[ C ] a large firework that shoots into the air and makes a loud noise, used to attract attention, especially at sea
■ verb
[ vn ] [ usually passive ] to leave sb in a place that they cannot escape from, for example an island
SYN strand :
'Lord of the Flies' is a novel about English schoolboys marooned on a desert island.
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WORD ORIGIN
adjective and noun late 17th cent. (in the sense chestnut ): from French marron chestnut, via Italian from medieval Greek maraon . The sense relating to colour dates from the late 18th cent.
verb early 18th cent.: from Maroon (a group of people living in the mountains and forests of Suriname and the West Indies), originally in the form marooned lost in the wilds .