Noun

Singular drum

Plural drums

drum (plural drums)

1. A percussive musical instrument spanned with a thin covering on at least one end for striking, forming an acoustic chamber, affecting what materials are used to make it.
2. Any similar hollow, cylindrical object.
3. In particular, a barrel or large cylindrical container for liquid transport and storage.

   The restaurant ordered ketchup in 50-gallon drums.

4. (obsolete or historical) A social gathering or assembly held in the evening.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 631:

     Another misfortune which befel poor Sophia, was the company of Lord Fellamar, whom she met at the opera, and who attended her to the drum.

5. (architecture) The encircling wall that supports a dome or cupola
6. (architecture) Any of the cylindrical blocks that make up the shaft of a pillar

Derived terms

• bass drum
• drum and bass
• drum beat

• drum kit
• drummer
• drum roll

• drumstick
• drum stick
• hand drum

• kettledrum
• snare drum
• tenor drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of music instruments, technically classified as a membranophone.. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with parts of a player's body, or with some sort of implement such as a drumstick, to produce sound. Other techniques have been used to cause drums to make sound, such as the "Thumb roll". Drums are the world's oldest and most ubiquitous musical instruments, and the basic design has remained virtually unchanged for thousands of years. Most drums are considered "untuned instruments", however many modern musicians are beginning to tune drums to songs; Terry Bozzio has constructed a kit using diatonic and chromatically tuned drums. A few such as timpani are always tuned to a certain pitch. Often, several drums are arranged together to create a drum kit that can be played by one musician with all four limbs .