drummern.
/ˈdrʌmə/, U.S. /ˈdrəmər/ 1.
a. A person who plays a drum or drums; esp. a person who plays a drum or the drums in a musical ensemble (originally a military band; later also an orchestra, band, rock group, etc.).The term has not been in common use for those playing drums in an orchestra since the early 20th cent., the more usual terms being timpanist (for those playing timpani) and percussionist, but is now the usual word for a person playing a drum kit in a jazz, pop, or rock band, etc.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > instrumentalist > percussion player > [noun] > drummer
drumslade1513
swash-man1533
drum?1535
drumsler1541
drummer1574
drumster1581
swasher1600
drum man1645
drum boy1758
stick1909
skin-beater1936
1574 J. Baret Aluearie D 1163 A drummer, or player on the drumme, tympanista.
1583 P. Stubbes Anat. Abuses sig. M2 Then haue they their Hobby-horses, dragons & other Antiques, togither with their baudie Pipers and thundering Drummers.
1680 Eng. Atlas I. sig. Bbb2/2 The Drummer puts himself, by dancing and howling, into a violent motion, till he falls down, which he chuses to do upon his Drum.
1789 C. Burney Gen. Hist. Music IV. i. 73 In the opera of Berenice..there were choruses of one hundred virgins, one hundred soldiers,..six trumpeters on horseback, six drummers, six ensigns, six sacbuts, six great flutes, [etc.].
1794 C. I. La Trobe tr. G. H. Loskiel Hist. Mission United Brethren i. viii. 104 When one round is finished, they take some rest, during which the drummer continues to sing, till another dance commences.
1829 Crypt Feb. 94/2 ‘I see, Sir,’ said the King to him, ‘you wish to accustom me to a black drummer by degrees.’
1830 Atlas 9 May 300/1 Many elegant women were content to ascend the orchestra—there, of course, to inspire the drummer and trumpeters with unwonted enthusiasm.
1868 Salt Lake Daily Tel. (Salt Lake City, Utah Territory) 23 Mar. A very curious performance is the drum concert of the celebrated drummer, Mr. Julius Weiffenbach, on sixteen drums with forty-eight drumsticks.
1911 D. S. Hulfish Cycl. Motion-pict. Work II. 191 The orchestra comprises pianist and drummer, and a ‘sound effect’ man.
1926 Melody Maker Feb. 25/2 When recording all the drummer has to do is fill in the cymbal beats.
1970 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 12 May 10/2 Mike Shreve is Santana's drummer.
2000 Guardian 3 Aug. i. 18/8 Around him, the band offered sympathetic support, with drummer Tim O'Reagan making occasional forays on lead vocal.
2012 L. J. Goodman in D. L. Kozak Inside Dazzling Mountains xxvi. 490 Traditionally certain men in the pueblo were trained as singers and drummers.
b. spec. A person who uses a drum to convey signals, commands, and information in a military context, as on a battlefield; (in later use) esp. a soldier who plays a drum or drums for ceremonial purposes. Also: a person engaged by a civic authority for a similar purpose.In the British army some drummers formerly also had other responsibilities, notably the administration of disciplinary floggings. to march to a different drummer: see march v.2 Phrases.
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1578 R. Day Bk. Christian Prayers f. 89 (margin) Drommer call together: al soldyars to my banner.
1580 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham (1889) IV. 196 Payd to the drummer xvj d.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 (1623) iv. viii. 50 Drummer strike vp, and let vs march away. View more context for this quotation
1682 J. Bunyan Holy War 298 When this Drummer had beaten for a Parley, he made this speech to Mansoul.
1720 D. Defoe Mem. Cavalier 218 The Preachers were better than Drummers to raise Voluntiers.
1760 Cautions & Advices to Officers of Army 129 Some Regiments have a Custom when an Officer first joins them; the Drummers welcome him with a Beat called A Point of War.
1823 J. F. Cooper Pioneers I. iv. 57 The lash drawing through his left, in the scientific manner with which drummers apply the cat.
1844 Queen's Regulations & Orders Army 168 The proportion of Acting Drummers shall not exceed Four [to a Company].
1890 Times 17 Dec. 14/4 When the order to commence was given, the first drummer went in and administered 25 lashes, told off deliberately by the drum-major, ‘One, two, three’, and so on.
1912 Times of India 8 Nov. 6/4 When the reorganisation of the Russian army was seriously taken up after the war with Japan one of the measures adopted was the abolition of drummers as being superfluous in the field.
1959 T. Shebunina tr. A. Tolstoy Peter the First vii. 281 With great pomp, in a Greek chariot surrounded by drummers beating kettledrums, rode the Generalissimo, the boyar Shein.
2012 B. Nelson Irish Nationalists & Making of Irish Race iv. 87 A few blacks were musicians and actors; some were drummers in British regiments; most were domestic servants.
2. Any of various animals which make a drumming noise, or perform an action that suggests drumming.† c. Horse Racing slang. A horse which tends to throw its forelegs about. Obsolete.
a. Originally: the drum fish; = drum n.1 6 (now rare). In later use also (chiefly Australian): any of several sea chubs of the family Kyphosidae.
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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > family Sciaenidae (drums) > [noun] > member of genus Pogonias
drummer1615
drum1649
tambour1854
the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > family Sciaenidae (drums) > [noun] > member of genus Haplodinotus
drummer1615
drum1649
sheep's head1676
bubbler1819
thunder-pumper1877
the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > family Sciaenidae (drums) > [noun] > genus Sciaena > sciaena ocellata (red drum)
bass1530
drummer1615
drum1649
red drum1709
drummer fish1725
red fish1763
red sciaena1803
red bass1837
spot1864
school bass1869
channel bass1873
spotfish1875
masooka1884
red horse1884
red1958
1615 R. Hamor True Disc. Present Estate Virginia 21 For fish the Riuers are plentifully stored, with Sturgion, Porpasse, Base, Rockfish, Carpe, Shad, Herring, Ele, Catfish, Perch Flat-fish, Troute, Sheepes-head, Drummers, Iarfish, Creuises, Crabbes, Oisters and diuerse other kindes.
1679 T. Trapham Disc. Health Jamaica 66 The choice Mullet brings up the next division crowded with various Snappers..Pilchers, Sprat, Drummers.
1763 R. Brookes New Syst. Nat. Hist. III. 144 This fish [sc. the Guatucupa], at Jamaica, is called the Drummer.
1873 Rep. Condition Sea Fisheries South Coast New Eng. 1871–2 (U.S. Commission, Fish & Fisheries) xiii. 225 In the days of my boyhood, my neighbors often spoke of a fish called the ‘drummer’, which is the same variety that you call the squeteague.
1881 Proc. Linn. Soc. New S. Wales 5 408 Girella elevata..‘The Drummer’.
1963 B. Hesling Dinkumization & Depommification 11 Sydney—a place where I once fished for drummer and gathered pippies within a mile of the Town Hall.
1983 J. S. Zaneveld Caribbean Fish Life 71 Cynoscion jamaicensis..Jamaica weakfish..; mongolar drummer.
2011 Canberra Times (Nexis) 27 Nov. a56 Bread, weed and prawn baits are working well on drummer all along the South Coast.
b. Chiefly Caribbean. The giant cockroach, Blaberus giganteus, a large, brown cockroach found chiefly in Central and South America. Originally believed to produce a loud drumming noise by knocking against the timber of buildings.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Dictyoptera > member of genus Blatta (cockroach)
blatta1601
cockroach1616
mill moth1658
twitch-ballock1757
drummer1764
mill beetle1771
kakkerlak1813
roach1822
twitch-clock1843
twitch-cloga1876
cocky1931
1764 J. Grainger Sugar-cane i. 26 There is a species of Cockroach, which, on account of a beating noise which it makes, especially at night, is called the Drummer.
1782 D. Drury Illustr. Nat. Hist. III. p. x The Blatta Gigantea or Linnæus in the West Indies are..frequently known by the name of Drummers.
1886 L. C. Miall & L. C. Compton Struct. & Life-hist. Cockroach iii. 19 The Drummer of the West Indies..has often been found alive in ships in the London Docks.
1936 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 29 Aug. 26/3 These familiar forms are..entirely dwarfed by the giant ‘drummer’ cockroach of which live specimens frequently issue from vegetable cargoes.
2007 S. Bryan Black Passenger Yellow Cabs (2009) 284 If a regular cockroach is a canoe, then a drummer is an aircraft carrier.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > habits and actions of horse > [noun]
drummer1785
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Drummer, a jockey term for a horse, that throws about his fore legs irregularly, the idea is taken from a kettle drummer, who in beating makes many flourishes with his drum sticks.
d. North American. The ruffed grouse, Bonasa umbellus, esp. the breeding male. Cf. note at drum v.1 2c.
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the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Tetraonidae (grouse) > [noun]
black grouse1673
drummer1868
1855 Grantham's Mag. Aug. 136/2 This he had recognized for the drumming..of the male bird of the ruffed grouse... Frank brought the drummer, whom he had shot, in the very act, upon his log.]
1868 A. A. Tenney Birds 103 The male Ruffed Grouse is sometimes called a ‘Drummer’.
1924 M. H. Mason Arctic Forests 144 These fine birds..also known as ‘drummers’ from the cock's habit of drumming with the wings.
1961 W. P. Keller Canada's Wild Glory ii. 93 These were the willow grouse, or as the same bird is known in the east, ‘the drummer’ or ruffed grouse.
2006 C. Fergus Rough-Shooting Dog 212 Sometimes in the spring, out listening for drummers or looking for broods, I will come across one of my little talismans.
e. A rabbit. rare.With reference to rabbits thumping the ground with their hind legs to signal danger.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Lagomorpha (rabbits and hares) > [noun] > family Leporidae > genus Oryctolagus (rabbit)
coneyc1430
rabbit1502
bunny1699
pussy1715
mappie1825
map1866
drummer1894
flopsy bunny1909
underground mutton1946
1894 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. May 722 When I wanted drummers [rabbits] I could git them for myself.
1924 Adventure 20 Dec. 69/2 Snowzer had a drummer in his long lean jaws.
1981 D. B. Plummer Diary of Hunter 100/2 The land, once filled with tiny drummers, is now a desert. I can no longer train Woolly Bear on the rabbits in my lane.
3.
a. colloquial (chiefly U.S. and Australian). A person who solicits custom or orders; a travelling sales representative. Also drummer-up. Cf. drum v.1 7b(a), to drum up 1a at drum v.1 Phrasal verbs. Now somewhat rare.
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society > trade and finance > selling > seller > [noun] > commercial traveller
rideout1752
rider1752
outrider1762
traveller1790
commercial traveller1807
bagman1808
town traveller1808
commis voyageur1825
roundman1827
drummer1828
travelling salesman1833
bag woman1845
commercial1861
fieldman1875
outride1879
roundsman1884
knight of the road1889
representative1918
sales representative1949
sales rep1959
rep1973
1828 W. Scott Let. May–June (1936) X. 426 The Nos. of Lodge's book..were left by some drummer of the trade upon speculation.
1833 Constellation (N.Y.) 8 June 308/1 The drummers, who have distinguished themselves in this Commercial Emporium the present season.
1855 Hall's Jrnl. of Health June 168c A walking advertisement, a peripatetic blower, or a drummer up, for the Inhalist.
1875 Queenslander 13 Mar. 8/7 He was accosted in the hotel by a ‘drummer’, who thought him one of the fraternity, and enquired: ‘For what house are you travelling?’
1915 Ld. Redesdale Memories I. xiii. 287 The boarding house chiefly used by ‘drummers’—travellers of English commercial houses.
1938 West Austral. (Perth) 13 June 18/3 They had only to be reminded of the status of the commercial traveller in the community today compared with that of the proverbial ‘drummer’ of pre-association days.
1957 C. T. Rowan Go South to Sorrow 69 He was a drummer from a wholesale house in Jackson.
2001 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 1 Oct. b8/3 The invincible American drummer is back, resuming his sales route with welcome boorishness.
b. British slang.
(a) A robber who takes valuables from victims after having rendered them unconscious, usually with a secretly administered sedative. Now disused.
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the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > [noun]
thief688
bribera1387
stealer1508
taker?a1513
goodfellow1566
snatcher1575
lift1591
liftera1592
larcin1596
Tartar1602
lime-twig1606
outparter1607
Tartarian1608
flick1610
puggard1611
gilt1620
nim1630
highwayman1652
cloyer1659
out-trader1660
Robin Goodfellow1680
birdlime1705
gyp1728
filch1775
kiddy1780
snaveller1781
larcenist1803
pincher1814
geach1821
wharf-rat1823
toucher1837
larcener1839
snammer1839
drummer1856
gun1857
forker1867
gunsmith1869
nabber1880
thiever1899
tea-leaf1903
gun moll1908
nicker1909
knocker-off1926
possum1945
scuffler1961
rip-off1969
1856 H. Mayhew Great World London i. 46 Those who hocus or plunder persons by stupefying; as ‘drummers’, who drug liquor.
1859 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang 34 Drummer, a robber who first makes his victims insensible by drugs or violence, and then plunders them.
1907 F. W. Chandler Lit. Roguery I. iii. 130 Those who plunder the stupefied are either bug-hunters preying on the drunken, or drummers who hocus liquor or use chloroform.
(b) A burglar, typically one who ascertains whether a property is occupied before attempting a robbery by knocking on or ringing at the door (see also quot. 1934). Cf. drum v.1 10.
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1934 J. Franklyn This Gutter Life vii. 52 A ‘drummer’... She gets jobs as skivvy in a big house, takes plans, and some months later her man does the job; or on smaller occasions simply goes knocking at the door, to make sure the family are really out.
1960 Observer 25 Dec. 7/6 Nobody wanted to know the drummers, those squalid daytime operators who turn over empty semi-detached villas while the housewives are out shopping.
2004 N. Smith Few Kind Words & Loaded Gun ii. 40 Couple of naughty little drummers... Probably responsible for most of the screwings on the division by all accounts.
c. A blacksmith's hammerman. Now rare.
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society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > workers with specific materials > metalworker > [noun] > forger or smith
smithOE
smithier1379
forgerc1380
encloser1382
hammersmith1382
metalsmithc1384
fevera1450
hammerman1483
smithera1525
anvil-beater1677
metalworker1851
dinger1863
drummer1881
1881 Census Return: Eng. (P.R.O.: RG 11/3958) f. 79v [Salford] James Murphy..Drummer to Blacksmith.
1908 J. G. Horner Henley's Encycl. Pract. Engin. VII. 223/2 The small hand hammer used by the smith..as a pointer to indicate to the hammerman or drummer the locations at which blows are to be given.
1953 J. Arnold Countryman's Workshop i. 24 When the blacksmith and his ‘drummer’, as his assistant is known, are working together on the anvil they do so in silent understanding.
d. slang (Australian and New Zealand). The slowest or least expert shearer in a particular sheep-shearing gang or shed.
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1891 Sydney Morning Herald 21 Nov. 4/6 If 50 men go into a woolshed to shear..there will be among them one ringer who will shear 150 sheep..and also a drummer who will shear less than half that number.
1949 P. Newton High Country Days v. 55 Hewett, the learner, and ‘drummer’ of the gang, with seventeen to his credit had also shown an improvement.
1959 H. P. Tritton Time means Tucker v. 42/2 It's not every man that is drummer in four sheds running.
1995 G. W. Winter All Ways Uphill 114 There was one exception [to the rule of matching the boss's rate of axe-work], the ‘drummer’. He was a mere lad.
e. slang (Australian and New Zealand). A tramp; a swagman. Cf. drum n.1 13. Now disused.
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society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [noun] > without fixed aim or wandering > vagrancy or vagabondage > vagabond or tramp > carrying belongings
swagman1851
swagger1855
swagsman1869
swaggie1892
bagman1896
drummer1898
battler1900
bindle-man1900
bindle-stiff1900
bluey-humper1903
bag lady1972
bag woman1977
1898 Bulletin (Sydney) 31 Dec. 14/3 The broken-down old drummer, grown cranky from the sun.
1933 L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 14 Oct. 15/7 Drum, swag, obviously from the shape. Hence drummer.
1945 S. J. Baker Austral. Lang. v. 102 Bender (1885) and drummer (circa 1890) were once popular terms for tramps of slightly better class than the sundowner.
Compounds
C1. Appositive (chiefly in sense 1b), as drummer boy, drummer lad, etc.
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1786 Gentleman's Mag. June 521/1 A sailor..voluntarily confessed that he, about seven years ago, murdered a drummer boy.
1830 W. Scott Lett. Demonol. & Witchcraft x. 365 Matcham would have deserted had it not been for the presence of a little drummer-lad.
1843 Monthly Rev. Sept. 46 How could it be proved that his sweet Bessie was Elizabeth Smith the horrid drummer-girl?
1918 F. L. Waldo Amer. at Front iv. 51 There were no fledglings among these musicians, no little drummer lads.
1960 G. M. Waller Samuel Vetch xii. 225 The ‘children’ reported by Colonel Lee probably were drummer boys, unless some of the women camp followers had brought small children with them.
2005 J. M. Ward Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe xix. 261 The two drummer boys stood each to an entrance to the decks below.
C2.
drummer fish n. = drum n.1 6; cf. sense 2a.
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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > family Sciaenidae (drums) > [noun] > genus Sciaena > sciaena ocellata (red drum)
bass1530
drummer1615
drum1649
red drum1709
drummer fish1725
red fish1763
red sciaena1803
red bass1837
spot1864
school bass1869
channel bass1873
spotfish1875
masooka1884
red horse1884
red1958
1725 H. Sloane Voy. Islands II. 290 Drummer-Fish. This was taken at Old Harbour.
1870 Hardwick's Sci.-gossip July 148/1 What has been written about the size and sounds of the ‘drummer’ fish, off the coast of America, it is apparently of an entirely different kind from that in the eastern seas.
2005 C. Gorry et al. Caribbean Islands (Lonely Planet) 604/2 Moray eels, drummer fish and parrot fish are just a few of the hundreds of sea species that attract divers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2015; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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