Drum
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈdɹʌm/
- Rhymes: -ÊŒm
Origin
1535, back-formation from drumslade ("drummer") from Middle Dutch trommelslach ("drumbeat"), from trommel ("drum") + slach ("beat") (Dutch slag).
Alternate etymology traces drum directly from Middle Dutch tromme ("drum") or Middle Low German trumme ("drum"). Akin to Middle High German trumme, trumbe ("drum"), Old High German trumba ("trumpet"). More at trumpet.
Full definition of drum
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.
- Any similar hollow, cylindrical object.
- In particular, a barrel or large cylindrical container for liquid transport and storage.The restaurant ordered ketchup in 50-gallon drums.
- (obsolete or historical) A social gathering or assembly held in the evening.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 631:Another misfortune which befel poor Sophia, was the company of Lord Fellamar, whom she met at the opera, and who attended her to the drum.
- (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.
- (slang) A person's home.
- (AU slang) A tip, a piece of information.
- 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber 2003, p. 258:‘he is the darndest little speaker we got, so better sit there and listen to him while he gives you the drum and if you clean out your earholes you might get a bit of sense into your heads.’
Derived terms
Verb
- (intransitive) To beat a drum.
- (ambitransitive) To beat with a rapid succession of strokes.The ruffed grouse drums with his wings.
- Washington Irvingdrumming with his fingers on the arm of his chair
- (transitive) To drill or review in an attempt to establish memorization.He’s still trying to drum Spanish verb conjugations into my head.
- 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.