DRUM

drum, drumfish

(noun) small to medium-sized bottom-dwelling food and game fishes of shallow coastal and fresh waters that make a drumming noise

drum, membranophone, tympan

(noun) a musical percussion instrument; usually consists of a hollow cylinder with a membrane stretched across each end

drum, metal drum

(noun) a cylindrical metal container used for shipping or storage of liquids

drum

(noun) the sound of a drum; “he could hear the drums before he heard the fifes”

barrel, drum

(noun) a bulging cylindrical shape; hollow with flat ends

cram, grind away, drum, bone up, swot, get up, mug up, swot up, bone

(verb) study intensively, as before an exam; “I had to bone up on my Latin verbs before the final exam”

drum

(verb) play a percussion instrument

drum, beat, thrum

(verb) make a rhythmic sound; “Rain drummed against the windshield”; “The drums beat all night”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Noun

drum (plural drums)

A percussive musical instrument spanned with a thin covering on at least one end for striking, forming an acoustic chamber, affecting what materials are used to make it; a membranophone.

Hypernym: percussion instrument

Any similar hollow, cylindrical object.

A barrel or large cylindrical container for liquid transport and storage.

(obsolete or historical) A social gathering or assembly held in the evening.

(architecture) The encircling wall that supports a dome or cupola.

(architecture) Any of the cylindrical blocks that make up the shaft of a pillar.

A drumfish (family Sciaenidae).

(slang, UK) A person's home.

(AU slang) A tip; a piece of information.

Usage notes

When used in the plural, "drums" or "the drums" often specifically means a drum kit as used for contemporary styles such as rock or jazz; a classical percussionist would be very unlikely to say that they "play the drums" on a piece, even if the only parts they play are, indeed, drums (as opposed to marimba or xylophone or similar.)

Verb

drum (third-person singular simple present drums, present participle drumming, simple past and past participle drummed)

(intransitive) To beat a drum.

(ambitransitive) To beat with a rapid succession of strokes.

(transitive) To drill or review in an attempt to establish memorization.

To throb, as the heart.

To go about, as a drummer does, to gather recruits, to draw or secure partisans, customers, etc.; used with for.

Etymology 2

Noun

drum (plural drums)

A small hill or ridge of hills.

Usage notes

• Mainly encountered in place names, such as Drumglass and Drumsheugh.

Etymology

Proper noun

Drum (plural Drums)

A surname.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Drum is the 7459th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 4468 individuals. Drum is most common among White (91.61%) individuals.

Source: Wiktionary


Drum, n. Etym: [Cf. D. trom, trommel, LG. trumme, G. trommel, Dan. tromme, Sw. trumma, OHG. trumba a trumpet, Icel. pruma a clap of thunder, and as a verb, to thunder, Dan. drum a booming sound, drumme to boom; prob. partly at least of imitative origin; perh. akin to E. trum, or trumpet.]

1. (Mus.)

Definition: An instrument of percussion, consisting either of a hollow cylinder, over each end of which is stretched a piece of skin or vellum, to be beaten with a stick; or of a metallic hemisphere (kettledrum) with a single piece of skin to be so beaten; the common instrument for marking time in martial music; one of the pair of tympani in an orchestra, or cavalry band. The drums cry bud-a-dub. Gascoigne.

2. Anything resembling a drum in form; as: (a) A sheet iron radiator, often in the shape of a drum, for warming an apartment by means of heat received from a stovepipe, or a cylindrical receiver for steam, etc. (b) A small cylindrical box in which figs, etc., are packed. (c) (Anat.) The tympanum of the ear; -- often, but incorrectly, applied to the tympanic membrane. (d) (Arch.)

Definition: One of the cylindrical, or nearly cylindrical, blocks, of which the shaft of a column is composed; also, a vertical wall, whether circular or polygonal in plan, carrying a cupola or dome. (e) (Mach.)

Definition: A cylinder on a revolving shaft, generally for the purpose of driving several pulleys, by means of belts or straps passing around its periphery; also, the barrel of a hoisting machine, on which the rope or chain is wound.

3. (Zoöl.)

Definition: See Drumfish.

4. A noisy, tumultuous assembly of fashionable people at a private house; a rout. [Archaic] Not unaptly styled a drum, from the noise and emptiness of the entertainment. Smollett.

Note: There were also drum major, rout, tempest, and hurricane, differing only in degrees of multitude and uproar, as the significant name of each declares.

5. A tea party; a kettledrum. G. Eliot. Bass drum. See in the Vocabulary.

– Double drum. See under Double.

Drum, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Drummed; p. pr. & vb. n. Drumming.]

1. To beat a drum with sticks; to beat or play a tune on a drum.

2. To beat with the fingers, as with drumsticks; to beat with a rapid succession of strokes; to make a noise like that of a beaten drum; as, the ruffed grouse drums with his wings. Drumming with his fingers on the arm of his chair. W. Irving.

3. To throb, as the heart. [R.] Dryden.

4. To go about, as a drummer does, to gather recruits, to draw or secure partisans, customers, etc,; -- with for.

Drum, v. t.

1. To execute on a drum, as a tune.

2. (With out) To expel ignominiously, with beat of drum; as, to drum out a deserter or rogue from a camp, etc.

3. (With up) To assemble by, or as by, beat of drum; to collect; to gather or draw by solicitation; as, to drum up recruits; to drum up customers.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

25 April 2024

TYPIFY

(verb) embody the essential characteristics of or be a typical example of; “The fugue typifies Bach’s style of composition”


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The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.

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