durum

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin dūrum, nominative neuter singular of dūrus (“hard”). Doublet of dour and dure.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdjuːɹəm/, /ˈdʌ.ɹəm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Homophone: Durham

Noun

durum (usually uncountable, plural durums)

1. (often used attributively) Ellipsis of durum wheat.

   durum pasta

   durum bread

   • 1933 October, Glenn S. Smith, J. Allen Clark, “Inheritance of Stem-Rust reaction and Correlation of Characters in Pentad, Nodak, and Akrona Durum-Wheat Crosses”, in Technical Bulletin, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 385, page 2:

     Much has been done in crossing Triticum durum Desf. and T. vulgare Vill.² in an attempt to produce common wheats that are as resistant to stem rust as are the durums.

   • 2003 October, Commission staff, Durum and Hard Red Spring Wheat From Canada, U.S. International Trade Commission, Publication 3639, page V-5,

     The Minneapolis Grain Exchange stated that durum is a small volume commodity with very specific uses. The durum futures contract traded sporadically for several years, and the Exchange declared the durum futures market dormant after there were no trades and no open interest in any futures contracts.

   • 2012, Ruby Parker Puckett, Foodservice Manual for Health Care Institutions, Wiley (Jossey-Bass), 4th Edition, page 397,

     Water is added to a mixture of durum meal or flour, semolina, and farina to make dough that is forced through dies to make tubular macaroni products and cord-like spaghetti.