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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The drums cry bud-a-dub. Gascoigne. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) See Drumfish. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A noisy, tumultuous assembly of fashionable people at a private house; a rout. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Not unaptly styled a drum, from the noise and emptiness of the entertainment. Smollett. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ There were also drum major, rout, tempest, and hurricane, differing only in degrees of multitude and uproar, as the significant name of each declares. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A tea party; a kettledrum. G. Eliot. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bass drum. See in the Vocabulary. --
Double drum. See under Double. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To execute on a drum, as a tune. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (With out) To expel ignominiously, with beat of drum; as, to drum out a deserter or rogue from a camp, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The sound of a beaten drum; drum music. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whose morning drumbeat, following the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England. D. Webster. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ See Drumly. ] 1. To be sluggish or lazy; to be confused. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To mumble in speaking. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Any fish of the family Sciænidæ, which makes a loud noise by means of its air bladder; -- called also drum. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The common drumfish (Pogonias chromis) is a large species, common south of New Jersey. The southern red drum or red horse (Sciæna ocellata), and the fresh-water drum or croaker (Aplodionotus grunniens), are related species. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The parchment or skin stretched over one end of a drum. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The top of a capstan which is pierced with sockets for levers used in turning it. See Illust. of Capstan. [ 1913 Webster ]

Drumhead court-martial (Mil.), a summary court-martial called to try offenses on the battlefield or the line of march, when, sometimes, a drumhead has to do service as a writing table. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gael. druim the ridge of a hill. ] (Geol.) A hill of compact, unstratified, glacial drift or till, usually elongate or oval, with the larger axis parallel to the former local glacial motion. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. Droumy. ] Turbid; muddy. [ Scot. & Obs. or Prov. Eng. ] Wodroephe (1623). Burns. [ 1913 Webster ]