I. drum 1 /drʌm/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Origin: Probably from Dutch trom ]
1 . a musical instrument made of skin stretched over a circular frame, played by hitting it with your hand or a stick:
a big bass drum
1,000 people marched, beating drums and carrying flags.
on drums
Trumpeter Red Rodney was playing with Kenny Clarke on drums (=playing the drums) .
Jones played the drums in an all-girl band.
2 . a large round container for storing liquids such as oil, chemicals etc:
a 5 gallon oil drum
3 . something that looks like a drum, especially part of a machine:
a brake drum
4 . bang/beat the drum for somebody/something to speak eagerly in support of someone or something:
The company is banging the drum for their new software.
5 . the drum of something a sound like the sound a drum makes:
the drum of the rain on the window
⇨ ↑ eardrum
II. drum 2 BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle drummed , present participle drumming )
1 . [intransitive] to play a drum
2 . [intransitive and transitive] to make a sound similar to a drum by hitting a surface again and again:
I could hear the rain drumming against the windows.
Lisa drummed her fingers impatiently on the table.
3 . drum something home to use repeated arguments or messages in order to make sure that people understand something:
An information booklet will be available and press advertisements will drum home the message.
drum something into somebody phrasal verb
to keep telling someone something until they cannot forget it:
‘Don’t talk to strangers’ is a message drummed into children.
drum somebody out of something phrasal verb
to force someone to leave an organization, place, or job:
He was drummed out of the army.
drum something ↔ up phrasal verb
to get support, interest, attention etc from people by making an effort:
He travelled throughout Latin America drumming up support for the confederation.
The organization is using the event to drum up business (=get more work and sales) .