drum
English
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Traditional_indonesian_drums.jpg/220px-Traditional_indonesian_drums.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Drum_scanner.jpg/220px-Drum_scanner.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Cable_drums_-_geograph.org.uk_-_401941.jpg/220px-Cable_drums_-_geograph.org.uk_-_401941.jpg)
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Perhaps back-formation from drumslade (“drummer”), from Middle Dutch trommelslach (“drumbeat”), from trommel (“drum”) + slach (“beat”) (Dutch slag).
Or perhaps borrowed directly from a continental Germanic language; compare Middle Dutch tromme (“drum”), Middle Low German trumme (“drum”) et al. Compare also Middle High German trumme, trumbe (“drum”), Old High German trumba (“trumpet”).
Noun
drum (plural drums)
- A percussive musical instrument spanned with a thin covering on at least one end for striking, forming an acoustic chamber; a membranophone.
- Hypernym: percussion instrument
- He's playing the piano and she's playing the drums!
- 1669, John Nievhoff, “Of ſome THINGS more then NATURAL, and ſtrange POOLS.”, in John Ogilby, transl., An Embassy from the Eaſt-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperour of China[1], London: John Macock, →OCLC, page 273:
- In the Province of Xenſi, near the City Vucung, is a Hill called Taipe, which if a Drum be beaten upon it, preſently followeth Thunder, Lightning, and ſtormy weather, inſomuch that the Magiſtrates have forbidden all perſons upon pain of death to beat any Drum there.
- Any similar hollow, cylindrical object.
- Replace the drum unit of your printer.
- A barrel or large cylindrical container for liquid transport and storage.
- The restaurant ordered ketchup in 50-gallon drums.
- (US) Synonym of construction barrel
- (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).
- (Australia slang) A tip; a piece of information.
- 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 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.’
- (boxing, slang, obsolete) The ear.
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.)
Derived terms
- bang the drum
- barrel drum
- bass drum
- beat like a jungle drum
- beat the drum
- big drum
- black drum
- bongo drum
- brake drum
- cable drum
- chalice drum
- cocktail drum
- concert bass drum
- conical drum
- double-conical drum
- double conical drum
- dram major
- drum and bass
- drumbeat
- drum belly
- drum brake
- drum cadence
- drum-dried
- drum fill
- drumfire
- drumfish
- drum head
- drumhead
- drum-head court
- drum horse
- drum kit
- drum machine
- drum magazine
- drum major
- drum majorette
- drummist
- drummy
- drum 'n' bass
- drum roll
- drum set
- drum stick
- drumstick
- drum talk
- drum tower
- ear drum
- eardrum
- footed drum
- frame drum
- freshwater drum
- friction drum
- furling drum
- goblet drum
- hand drum
- horn drum
- hourglass drum
- kettle drum
- kettledrum
- kick drum
- Lambeg drum
- long drum
- march to a different drum
- march to one's own drum
- march to the beat of a different drum
- march to the beat of one's own drum
- mud drum
- ngoma drum
- oil drum
- on the drum
- pellet drum
- red drum
- side drum
- skull drum
- slit drum
- snare drum
- steam drum
- steel drum
- storm drum
- talking drum
- tenor drum
- thunder-drum
- tight as a drum
- tom-tom drum
- tongue drum
- tubular drum
- waisted drum
- war drum
- water drum
Translations
|
|
|
See also
Verb
drum (third-person singular simple present drums, present participle drumming, simple past and past participle drummed)
- (intransitive) To beat a drum.
- (transitive, intransitive) To beat with a rapid succession of strokes.
- The ruffed grouse drums with his wings.
- 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC:
- drumming 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.
- 1978 December 9, Pat M. Kuras, “A Splice of Lesbian Life”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 20, page 11:
- Those long ago memories of gnawing sexuality clashing against drummed in prejudice.
- To throb, as the heart.
- 1690, [John] Dryden, Don Sebastian, King of Portugal: […], London: […] Jo. Hindmarsh, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number):
- Now, heart, […] thou shalt drum no more.
- To go about, as a drummer does, to gather recruits, to draw or secure partisans, customers, etc.; used with for.
- Of various animals, to make a vocalisation or mechanical sound that resembles drumming.
- 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 85:
- "There is the snipe drumming also. We shall have it fine!" he added, with an air of conviction.
Derived terms
Translations
|
|
Etymology 2
From Irish druim, Scottish Gaelic druim (“back, ridge”).
Noun
drum (plural drums)
Usage notes
- Mainly encountered in place names, such as Drumglass and Drumsheugh.
Etymology 3
Unknown.
Noun
drum (plural drums)
- (now historical) A social gathering or assembly held in the evening. [from 18th c.]
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:Folio Society 1973, page 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.
- 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:
- [H]e was engaged in a partie of cards, at a drum in the house of a certain lady of quality […] .
- (slang, chiefly UK) A person's home; a house or other building, especially when insalubrious; a tavern, a brothel. [from 19th c.]
Derived terms
- drummer (housebreaker; travelling salesman)
Etymology 4
Shortening.
Noun
drum (plural drums)
- (informal) A drumstick (of chicken, turkey, etc).
- 2006, Helene Andreu, Dance, movemet, and nutrition, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 138:
- Add, thinly sliced, 1/2 to 1 onion and 2 cloves of garlic also sliced, your choice of protein – chicken or turkey breast, or low fat beef, veal, lamb or pork, cut in pieces, or skinless chicken drums, and probably a little water. Then add 1/2 a cup of ...
- 2010, Nadejda Reilly, Ukrainian Cuisine with an American Touch and Ingredients, →ISBN, page 253:
- In a large frying pan, add some canola oil and half of the chicken drums and brown them on both sides. Repeat the procedure until all drums are browned. Place them in a medium baking pan. To the browned chicken drums, add sliced onion, ...
- 2010, Lisa Lamme, The Gypsy Kitchen: Transform Almost Nothing into Something Delicious with Not-So-Secret Ingredients, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:
- 3–5 pounds chicken drums and thighs, with skin
Hot sauce to taste
1. In a gallon resealable plastic bag, add flour, pepper, and salt. Shake to mix. […]
- 2016, Melanie Mah, The Sweetest One, Cormorant Books, →ISBN:
- Up top, a pained expression, her eating face. My mom doesn't eat for taste, she does it to stay alive. Probably wouldn't eat if she didn't have to. I grab a new chopstick and when I get back there's a chicken drum on my plate. “Thanks, Ba,” I say.
- 2016, Astroglo DeCerveau, A Book of Good and Bad Things, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN:
- To stir the whole, he used a chicken drum.
- 2017, Daniel Young, Stuart Barnes, Tincture Journal Issue Eighteen (Winter 2017), Tincture Journal, →ISBN:
- When noon came the next day, the two guards came in with a plate of […] chicken drums and pork braised in soy sauce, plus some vegetables.
References
- “drum”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Aromanian
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Greek δρόμος (drómos, “road, track”). Compare Romanian drum.
Noun
drum n (plural drumuri)
Synonyms
See also
Dutch
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
drum m (plural drums, diminutive drummetje n)
Synonyms
Derived terms
German
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Adverb
drum
- Contraction of darum.
Further reading
Italian
Etymology
From the tobacco brand.
Noun
drum m (invariable)
- roll-your-own cigarette
Megleno-Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from Greek δρόμος (drómos).
Noun
drum n (plural drumur)
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from Greek δρόμος (drómos, “road, track”).
Pronunciation
Noun
drum n (plural drumuri)
Declension
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
nominative/accusative | (un) drum | drumul | (niște) drumuri | drumurile |
genitive/dative | (unui) drum | drumului | (unor) drumuri | drumurilor |
vocative | drumule | drumurilor |
Related terms
See also
Further reading
Language in Danger Andrew Dalby, 2003
- drum in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)
Serbo-Croatian
Etymology
Borrowed from Greek δρόμος (drómos, “road, track”).
Noun
drȕm m (Cyrillic spelling дру̏м)
Declension
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ʌm
- Rhymes:English/ʌm/1 syllable
- English back-formations
- English terms derived from Middle Dutch
- English terms derived from Middle Low German
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- American English
- en:Architecture
- Australian English
- English slang
- en:Boxing
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms derived from Irish
- English terms derived from Scottish Gaelic
- English terms with rare senses
- English terms with unknown etymologies
- English terms with historical senses
- British English
- English informal terms
- en:Containers
- en:Croakers
- en:Percussion instruments
- Aromanian terms borrowed from Greek
- Aromanian terms derived from Greek
- Aromanian lemmas
- Aromanian nouns
- Aromanian neuter nouns
- Dutch terms borrowed from English
- Dutch terms derived from English
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/ʏm
- Rhymes:Dutch/ʏm/1 syllable
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -s
- Dutch masculine nouns
- nl:Musical instruments
- German terms with audio links
- German lemmas
- German adverbs
- German contractions
- Italian lemmas
- Italian nouns
- Italian indeclinable nouns
- Italian countable nouns
- Italian masculine nouns
- Megleno-Romanian terms borrowed from Greek
- Megleno-Romanian terms derived from Greek
- Megleno-Romanian lemmas
- Megleno-Romanian nouns
- Megleno-Romanian neuter nouns
- Romanian terms borrowed from Greek
- Romanian terms derived from Greek
- Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Romanian terms with audio links
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian nouns
- Romanian countable nouns
- Romanian neuter nouns
- ro:Roads
- Serbo-Croatian terms borrowed from Greek
- Serbo-Croatian terms derived from Greek
- Serbo-Croatian lemmas
- Serbo-Croatian nouns
- Serbo-Croatian masculine nouns
- sh:Roads