Middlemarch vocabulary

The heat of the weather made them careless of doing this; but taking a dram of brandy which I gave them when wet, with a charge to shift themselves,

William Dampier. A Voyage to New Holland, Etc. in the Year 1699

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"It was some broken wittles—that's what it was—and a dram of liquor, and a pie."

Charles Dickens. Great Expectations (1861)

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The mistress sent her maid for a small dram cup, which held about two gallons, and filled it with drink;

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I poured in the whiskey and a dram of soda.

Vladimir Nabokov. Lolita