Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

drum

2 verb
     
Related topics: Music, Colours and Sounds
drum2 past tense and past participle drummed, present participle drumming
1 [intransitive]APM to play a drum
2 [intransitive and transitive]C 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
SSO 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).
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary