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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Sciaenoid \Sci*[ae]"noid\, adjective [L. sci[ae]na a kind of fish (fr. Gr. ?) + -oid.] (Zo["o]l.) Of or pertaining to the {Sci[ae]nid[ae]}, a family of carnivorous marine fishes which includes the meagre ({Sciaena umbra} or {Sciaena aquila}), and fish of the {drum} and {croaker} families. The {croaker} is so called because it may make a croaking noise by use of its bladder; the {Atlantic croaker} ({Micropogonias undulatus}, formerly {Micropogon undulatus}) and the squeteague are a members of the croaker family, and the {kingfish} is a drum. [1913 Webster +PJC]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Swag \Swag\, noun
1. A swaying, irregular motion.
2. A burglar's or thief's booty; boodle. [Cant or Slang] --Charles Reade.
3. [Australia] (a) A tramping bushman's luggage, rolled up either in canvas or in a blanket so as to form a long bundle, and carried on the back or over the shoulder; -- called also a {bluey}, or a {drum}. (b) Any bundle of luggage similarly rolled up; hence, luggage in general.
He tramped for years till the swag he bore seemed part of himself. --Lawson. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Vase \Vase\ (v[=a]s or v[aum]z; 277), noun [F. vase; cf. Sp. & It. vaso; fr. L. vas, vasum. Cf. {Vascular}, {Vessel}.]
1. A vessel adapted for various domestic purposes, and anciently for sacrificial uses; especially, a vessel of antique or elegant pattern used for ornament; as, a porcelain vase; a gold vase; a Grecian vase. See Illust. of {Portland vase}, under {Portland}.
No chargers then were wrought in burnished gold, Nor silver vases took the forming mold. --Pope.
2. (Arch.) (a) A vessel similar to that described in the first definition above, or the representation of one in a solid block of stone, or the like, used for an ornament, as on a terrace or in a garden. See Illust. of {Niche}. (b) The body, or naked ground, of the Corinthian and Composite capital; -- called also {tambour}, and {drum}.
Note: Until the time of Walker (1791), vase was made to rhyme with base,, case, etc., and it is still commonly so pronounced in the United States. Walker made it to rhyme with phrase, maze, etc. Of modern English practice, Mr. A. J. Ellis (1874) says: ''Vase has four pronunciations in English: v[add]z, which I most commonly say, is going out of use, v["a]z I hear most frequently, v[=a]z very rarely, and v[=a]s I only know from Cull's marking. On the analogy of case, however, it should be the regular sound.'' One wit has noted that "a v[aum]z is a v[=a]z that costs more than $100." --?, suggesting that the latter is considered a higher-class pronunciation.
3. (Bot.) The calyx of a plant.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Croaker \Croak"er\ (-?r), noun
1. One who croaks, murmurs, grumbles, or complains unreasonably; one who habitually forebodes evil.
2. (Zo["o]l.) (a) A small American fish ({Micropogon undulatus}), of the Atlantic coast. (a) An American fresh-water fish ({Aplodinotus grunniens}); -- called also {drum}. (c) The surf fish of California.
Note: When caught these fishes make a croaking sound; whence the name, which is often corrupted into crocus.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Drum \Drum\, noun [Cf. D. trom, trommel, LG. trumme, G. trommel, Dan. tromme, Sw. trumma, OHG. trumba a trumpet, Icel. pruma a clap of thunder, and as a verb, to thunder, Dan. drum a booming sound, drumme to boom; prob. partly at least of imitative origin; perh. akin to E. trum, or trumpet.]
1. (Mus.) An instrument of percussion, consisting either of a hollow cylinder, over each end of which is stretched a piece of skin or vellum, to be beaten with a stick; or of a metallic hemisphere (kettledrum) with a single piece of skin to be so beaten; the common instrument for marking time in martial music; one of the pair of tympani in an orchestra, or cavalry band.
The drums cry bud-a-dub. --Gascoigne.
2. Anything resembling a drum in form; as: (a) A sheet iron radiator, often in the shape of a drum, for warming an apartment by means of heat received from a stovepipe, or a cylindrical receiver for steam, etc. (b) A small cylindrical box in which figs, etc., are packed. (c) (Anat.) The tympanum of the ear; -- often, but incorrectly, applied to the tympanic membrane. (d) (Arch.) One of the cylindrical, or nearly cylindrical, blocks, of which the shaft of a column is composed; also, a vertical wall, whether circular or polygonal in plan, carrying a cupola or dome. (e) (Mach.) A cylinder on a revolving shaft, generally for the purpose of driving several pulleys, by means of belts or straps passing around its periphery; also, the barrel of a hoisting machine, on which the rope or chain is wound.
3. (Zo["o]l.) See {Drumfish}.
4. A noisy, tumultuous assembly of fashionable people at a private house; a rout. [Archaic]
Not unaptly styled a drum, from the noise and emptiness of the entertainment. --Smollett.
Note: There were also drum major, rout, tempest, and hurricane, differing only in degrees of multitude and uproar, as the significant name of each declares.
5. A tea party; a kettledrum. --G. Eliot.
{Bass drum}. See in the Vocabulary.
{Double drum}. See under {Double}.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Drum \Drum\, verb (used with an object)
1. To execute on a drum, as a tune.
2. (With out) To expel ignominiously, with beat of drum; as, to drum out a deserter or rogue from a camp, etc.
3. (With up) To assemble by, or as by, beat of drum; to collect; to gather or draw by solicitation; as, to drum up recruits; to drum up customers.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Drum \Drum\, verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Drummed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Drumming}.]
1. To beat a drum with sticks; to beat or play a tune on a drum.
2. To beat with the fingers, as with drumsticks; to beat with a rapid succession of strokes; to make a noise like that of a beaten drum; as, the ruffed grouse drums with his wings.
Drumming with his fingers on the arm of his chair. --W. Irving.
3. To throb, as the heart. [R.] --Dryden.
4. To go about, as a drummer does, to gather recruits, to draw or secure partisans, customers, etc,; -- with for.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Drumfish \Drum"fish'\, noun (Zo["o]l.) Any fish of the family {Sci[ae]nid[ae]}, which makes a loud noise by means of its air bladder; -- called also {drum}.
Note: The common drumfish ({Pogonias chromis}) is a large species, common south of New Jersey. The southern red drum or red horse ({Sci[ae]na ocellata}), and the fresh-water drum or croaker ({Aplodionotus grunniens}), are related species.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
drum
noun
1: a musical percussion instrument; usually consists of a hollow cylinder with a membrane stretch across each end [syn: {membranophone}, {tympan}]
2: the sound of a drum; "he could hear the drums before he heard the fifes"
3: a bulging cylindrical shape; hollow with flat ends [syn: {barrel}]
4: a cylindrical metal container used for shipping or storage of liquids [syn: {metal drum}]
5: a hollow cast-iron cylinder attached to the wheel that forms part of the brakes [syn: {brake drum}]
6: small to medium-sized bottom-dwelling food and game fishes of shallow coastal and fresh waters that make a drumming noise [syn: {drumfish}]
verb
1: make a rhythmic sound; "Rain drummed against the windshield"; "The drums beat all night" [syn: {beat}, {thrum}]
2: play a percussion instrument
3: study intensively, as before an exam; "I had to bone up on my Latin verbs before the final exam" [syn: {cram}, {grind away}, {bone up}, {swot}, {get up}, {mug up}, {swot up}, {bone}] [also: {drumming}, {drummed}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
151 Moby Thesaurus words for "drum": barrage, barrel, beat, beat a ruffle, beat a tattoo, beat the drum, beat time, beating, bole, bongo drum, cackle, call, canvass, carol, cask, caw, chatter, cheep, chirk, chirp, chirr, chirrup, chitter, chuck, clack, cluck, cock-a-doodle-doo, column, conga, coo, count, count the beats, croak, cronk, crow, cuckoo, cylinder, cylindroid, din, ding, drizzle, drum music, drumbeat, drumfire, drumhead, drumming, drumskin, drumstick, fall, flutter, gabble, gaggle, go pitapat, gobble, guggle, hammer, honk, hoo, hoot, jazz stick, keep time, kettle, kettledrum, membranophone, mizzle, palpitate, palpitation, pant, paradiddle, patter, peep, pelt, pillar, pip, pipe, pitapat, pitter-patter, play drum, pound, pounding, pour, pour with rain, precipitate, pulsate, pulsation, pulse, quack, rain, rain tadpoles, rat-a-tat, rat-tat, rat-tat-tat, rataplan, rattattoo, roll, roller, rouleau, rub-a-dub, ruff, ruffle, scold, shower, shower down, side drum, sing, snare, snare drum, sound a tattoo, spatter, spit, splatter, splutter, sprinkle, sputter, squawk, staccato, stream, tabor, taboret, tabret, tam-tam, tambourine, tap, tat-tat, tattoo, tenor drum, throb, throbbing, thrum, thump, thumping, tick, ticktock, timbrel, timpani, tom-tom, trill, troll-drum, trunk, tube, tweet, twit, twitter, tymp stick, tympan, tympanon, tympanum, war drum, warble, weep, whistle
From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:
drum adj, noun Ancient techspeak term referring to slow, cylindrical magnetic media that were once state-of-the-art storage devices. Under some versions of BSD Unix the disk partition used for swapping is still called '/dev/drum'; this has led to considerable humor and not a few straight-faced but utterly bogus 'explanations' getting foisted on {newbie}s. See also "{The Story of Mel}" in Appendix A.
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
drum Ancient slow, cylindrical magnetic media that were once state-of-the-art storage devices. Under {BSD} {Unix} the disk partition used for swapping is still called "/dev/drum"; this has led to considerable humour and not a few straight-faced but utterly bogus "explanations" getting foisted on {newbie}s. See also "{The Story of Mel}". (1994-12-22)
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