- Bass drum
- 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.
[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. (Zo["o]l.) 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]
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. [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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
