GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 7 definitions

1.       
   Croaker , n.
   One who croaks, murmurs, grumbles, or complains unreasonably; one who habitually forebodes evil.
   1913 Webster
   (Zool.) (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.
   1913 Webster
   ☞ When caught these fishes make a croaking sound; whence the name, which is often corrupted into crocus.
         
       

2.       
   Drum , n. [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.]
    (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.
   1913 Webster
   The drums cry bud-a-dub.
   Gascoigne.
   
   1913 Webster
   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.
   1913 Webster
   (Zool.) See Drumfish.
   1913 Webster
   A noisy, tumultuous assembly of fashionable people at a private house; a rout. [Archaic]
   1913 Webster
   Not unaptly styled a drum, from the noise and emptiness of the entertainment.
   Smollett.
   
   1913 Webster
   ☞ There were also drum major, rout, tempest, and hurricane, differing only in degrees of multitude and uproar, as the significant name of each declares.
   1913 Webster
   A tea party; a kettledrum.
   G. Eliot.
   
   1913 Webster
   Bass drum. See in the Vocabulary. -- Double drum. See under Double.
   1913 Webster
   
         
       

3.       
   Drum, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Drummed ; p. pr. & vb. n. Drumming.]
   To beat a drum with sticks; to beat or play a tune on a drum.
   1913 Webster
   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.
   1913 Webster
   Drumming with his fingers on the arm of his chair.
   W. Irving.
   
   1913 Webster
   To throb, as the heart. [R.]
   Dryden.
   
   1913 Webster
   To go about, as a drummer does, to gather recruits, to draw or secure partisans, customers, etc,; -- with for.
   1913 Webster
         
       

4.       
   Drum, v. t.
   To execute on a drum, as a tune.
   1913 Webster
   (With out) To expel ignominiously, with beat of drum; as, to drum out a deserter or rogue from a camp, etc.
   1913 Webster
   (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.
   1913 Webster
         
       

5.       
   Drumfish , n. (Zool.) Any fish of the family Sciænidæ, which makes a loud noise by means of its air bladder; -- called also drum.
   1913 Webster
   ☞ The common drumfish (Pogonias chromis) is a large species, common south of New Jersey. The southern red drum or red horse (Sciæna ocellata), and the fresh-water drum or croaker (Aplodionotus grunniens), are related species.
   1913 Webster
   
         
       

6.       
   Swag, n.
   A swaying, irregular motion.
   1913 Webster
   A burglar's or thief's booty; boodle. [Cant or Slang]
   Charles Reade.
   
   1913 Webster
   [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.
   
         
       

7.       
   Vase , n. [F. vase; cf. Sp. & It. vaso; fr. L. vas, vasum. Cf. Vascular, Vessel.]
   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.
   1913 Webster
   No chargers then were wrought in burnished gold,
   Nor silver vases took the forming mold.
   Pope.
   
   1913 Webster
   (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.
   1913 Webster
   ☞ 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: , which I most commonly say, is going out of use,  I hear most frequently,  very rarely, and  I only know from Cull's marking. On the analogy of case, however, it should be the regular sound.”
   The Merriam-Webster's 10th Colletgiate Dictionary says: “U. S. oftenest vās; Canada usu. and U. S. also vāz; Canada also & U. S. sometimes väz.”
   One wit has noted that “a väz is a vāz that costs more than $100.”, suggesting that the former is considered a higher-class pronunciation.
   1913 Webster
    + 
   PJC
   (Bot.) The calyx of a plant.
   1913 Webster