As a noun, it is a musical instrument made of a hollow body covered with a tight skin or material that makes sound when hit. As a verb, it means to beat or tap rhythmically, often on a surface.
From Middle Dutch 'tromme' or Middle Low German 'drumme', meaning 'drum', probably imitative of the sound. It entered English in the 16th century. The basic meaning of a percussion instrument has remained the same.
Drums may be humanity’s oldest instruments; you can make one wherever you have a hollow space and something to hit it with. Before phones and radios, drum rhythms carried messages across villages and battlefields. Rhythm itself is a kind of language, and drums were among our first transmitters.
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