drum

drum

I

drum¹ /drʌm/ noun [countable]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

drum² 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).