DRUM • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Drum

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Drum

noun

1.

A musical percussion instrument; usually consists of a hollow cylinder with a membrane stretched across each end. Synonyms: membranophone, tympan.

2.

The sound of a drum.

3.

A bulging cylindrical shape; hollow with flat ends. Synonym: barrel.

4.

A cylindrical metal container used for shipping or storage of liquids. Synonym: metal drum.

5.

A hollow cast-iron cylinder attached to the wheel that forms part of the brakes. Synonym: brake drum.

6.

Small to medium-sized bottom-dwelling food and game fishes of shallow coastal and fresh waters that make a drumming noise. Synonym: drumfish.

verb

(past & past part. drummed; pres. part. drumming)

1.

Make a rhythmic sound. Synonyms: beat, thrum. "The drums beat all night"

2.

Play a percussion instrument.

3.

Study intensively, as before an exam. Synonyms: bone, bone up, cram, get up, grind away, mug up, swot, swot up.

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WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Drum" Quotes from Famous Books

... negro playing at any sort of game should be scourged through the public streets; that every publican suffering such gaming in his house should forfeit forty shillings; that every proprietor suffering his negroes to beat a drum, blow a horn, or make any other noise in his plantation, should be fined ten pounds; and every overseer allowing these irregularities should pay half that sum, to be demanded, or distrained for, by any civil or military officer; that every free negro, or mulatto, ...

— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett

... only from its consequences. One afternoon he had gone with some comrades on an expedition beyond the city gates. "Half a league from the town," say the "Confessions," "I hear the retreat sounded, and hasten my steps; I hear the drum beat, and run with all my might; I arrive out of breath, all in a sweat; my heart beats; I see from a distance the soldiers at their posts; I rush on; I cry with a failing voice. It was too late. When twenty yards from the outpost ...

— The Eve of the French Revolution • Edward J. Lowell

... of the arrival from Europe of an old friend and former parishioner. She was a rich woman, and was now alone in the world. Perhaps he could get away in a few days and run down to New York to see her. He began to drum absently on the desk with his fingers, turning over in his mind some details in the arrangement of the chapel which he had never settled to his satisfaction. Presently he realised that something was lacking, and reaching forward, he took a cigar from the open ...

— The Mayor of Warwick • Herbert M. Hopkins

... before goin' further. Alex elects me to go up and notify Sampson that we're all set to show him the Gaflooey chummy roadster, while he and the mechanic stays behind to look over the car and see that everything is workin' fairly perfect. I got as far as the porch and a guy in a drum-major's uneyform without the hat nails me. He was as big as the Woolworth Buildin' and just as emotional. He looked like what them ...

— Alex the Great • H. C. Witwer

... the time may come, When peacefully the British flag shall wave, And when the rebels' terrorizing drum Shall be as still as Kiel's rebel grave, O'er the wide land, whose sides two oceans lave; When demagogues of party shall retire, Or curb their selfish zeal, their land to save From factious feuds and savage rebel fire. And all that tends to raise the ...

— Canada and Other Poems • T.F. Young

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