Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Drum?

\Drum\, n. [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.) 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.) 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.) 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. (Zo["o]l.) 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.