Definition of maroon

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< Maronite

maroon >

ma·roon ¹    (m-rn) KEY  

TRANSITIVE VERB:
ma·rooned , ma·roon·ing , ma·roons

1. To put ashore on a deserted island or coast and intentionally abandon.
2. To abandon or isolate with little hope of ready rescue or escape: The travelers were marooned by the blizzard.

NOUN:

1. often Maroon
   1. A fugitive Black slave in the West Indies in the 17th and 18th centuries.
   2. A descendant of such a slave.
2. A person who is marooned, as on an island.

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ETYMOLOGY:
From French marron, fugitive slave, from American Spanish cimarrón, wild, runaway, perhaps from cima, summit (from runaways' fleeing to the mountains), from Latin cma, sprout ; see cyma

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