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Definition: drum 1 from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary

(1539) 1 : a percussion instrument consisting of a hollow shell or cylinder with a drumhead stretched over one or both ends that is beaten with the hands or with some implement (as a stick or wire brush) 2 : tympanic membrane 3 : the sound of a drum; also : a sound similar to that of a drum 4 : any of various chiefly marine bony fishes (family Sciaenidae) that make a drumming or croaking noise using their air bladder and associated muscles 5 :something resembling a drum in shape: as a (1) : any of the cylindrical blocks that form the shaft of a column (2) : a round wall or structure that supports a dome b : a cylindrical machine or mechanical device or part c : a cylindrical container; specif : a large usu. metal container for liquids 〈a 55-gallon ⁓〉 d : a disk-shaped magazine for an automatic weapon

drum•like \-॑līk\ adj


drum

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Any of a class of percussion instruments consisting of a frame or hollow vessel of wood, metal, or earthenware with a membrane of hide or plastic stretched across one or both ends. Drums are usually sounded by striking the membrane with the hands, a stick, or pair of sticks. They are among the oldest instruments known and exist in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. They include slit drums made of wood, steel drums made from oil containers, and a majority group of skin drums . Tuned drums Most drums are of indeterminate low or high pitch and are used as rhythm instruments. The exceptions are steel drums, orchestral timpani (kettledrums), and Indian tabla which are tuned to precise pitches. Double-ended African kalungu (‘talking drums’) can be varied in pitch by the player squeezing on the tension cords; higher tension over the playing drumhead results in a higher pitch. Frame drums, including the Irish bodhrán and Basque tambour, are smaller and lighter in tone and may incorporate…
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Full text Article drum

From Word Origins
Belying the total lack of similarity between the instruments, drum, trumpet , and trombone seem to be closely related. Drum appears to be a shortening of a slightly earlier English word drumslade ‘drum, drummer’, which was borrowed from Low German trommelslag ‘drumbeat’. This was a compound noun…
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Full text Article drum

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Musical instrument, the sound of which is produced by the vibration of a stretched membrane. Drums are usually either cylindrical or bowl-shaped. The drum is a universal instrument and very ancient; a drum dating to 6000 bc has been found in Moravia. Drums have been important ritually in cultures…
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Full text Article drum

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Any of a class of percussion instruments consisting of a frame or hollow vessel of wood, metal, or earthenware with a membrane of hide or plastic stretched across one or both ends. Drums are usually sounded by striking the membrane with the hands, a stick, or pair of sticks. They are among the…
| 328 words
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Full text Article drum

From The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language
a. A percussion instrument consisting of a hollow cylinder or hemisphere with a membrane stretched tightly over one or both ends, played by beating with the hands or sticks. b. A sound produced by this instrument. Something resembling a drum in shape or structure, especially a barrellike metal…
| 271 words
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Full text Article DRUMS

From Classical Music: An Introduction Full text Article THE ORCHESTRA
The drum section of the National Ballet of China...
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments and is technically classified as membranous. Historically, the drum represents the world's oldest and most ubiquitous instrument, with a wide range of uses. In the orchestra the most common drums in use are the kettledrum, the bass…
| 340 words , 2 images
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Full text Article Drum

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
A popular name in the 18th century and later for a crowded evening party, so called from its resemblance in noise to the drumming up of recruits. The more riotous of these parties were called drum-majors. See also hurricane ; rout . This is a riotous assembly of fashionable people of both sexes, at…
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From Shakespeare's Theatre: A Dictionary of His Stage Context
The drum was one of the most significant musical instruments in the Elizabethan theatre, joining with the trumpet in battle scenes (Alan Dessen notes three hundred and sixty signals for drums in his Dictionary of Stage Directions) . The small drum, or tabor , also accompanied the pipe, both being…
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From The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism
Drums and other percussion instruments are used in many Buddhist cultures to signal the events of the daily monastic schedule, to call the monks and nuns to assembly, and in Buddhist liturgical activities. Drums also appear frequently in Buddhist literature as a symbol of the power of the dharma to…
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Full text Article drum

From The Oxford Companion to Food
the name given to certain fish of the family Sciaenidae which are notable for the noise they can make; cf. the similar name croaker , applied in the same family. The noise is produced by a snapping of the muscles attached to the air bladder, which acts as a resonance chamber. A curious fact is that…
| 276 words
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From Encyclopedia of South Africa
A unique and desperately needed outlet for black cultural expression in South Africa, Drum magazine, started in 1951 by Jim Bailey, became one of the most popularly read magazines in South Africa and throughout the continent. Drum's heyday in the 1950s coincided with the political and cultural…
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