n.an expression dating from the nineteenth century meaning
evil, intoxicating alcoholic drink. It may have been invented by author Timothy Shay
Arthur in his popular
novel, Ten Nights in a
Barroom and What I
Saw There (1854), in which he described someone as "a slave to the demon
rum."
Demon means a wicked or
evil spirit, a
devil. It is used figuratively to show that something, specifically an alcoholic drink, has the
attributes or
evil nature of a
demon.
Rum is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented molasses, sugar cane, etc. In the United
States, the
word rum has sometimes been used as a generic
term for all intoxicating liquors.