drum head

See also: drumhead

English

Alternative forms

• drumhead

Noun

drum head (plural drum heads)

1. The thin circle of material attached to the top of a drum shell for the purpose of striking, sometimes made of skin and in such occurrences sometimes referred to as a skin, or drum-skin, but often synthetic.
   • 1845, William Carleton, “The Pudding Bewitched”, in Tales and Sketches: Illustrating the Character, Usages, Traditions, Sports and Pastimes of the Irish Peasantry‎^[1], Dublin: James Duffy, page 227:

     […] out bounced the pudden itself, hoppin', as nimble as a pea on a drum-head, about the floor.

   • 1854, Henry David Thoreau, chapter XVII, in Walden‎^[2], New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co, published 1910, page 398:

     […] I noticed with surprise, that when I struck the ice with the head of my axe, it resounded like a gong for many rods around, or as if I had struck on a tight drumhead.

   • 2014, John Vincent Bellezza, chapter 2, in The Dawn of Tibet: The Ancient Civilization on the Roof of the World, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, page 43:

     Deer as mythological flying creatures appear to have played a vital role in the religious life of Zhang Zhung. It is written in Tibetan texts that its body parts were sought after in the manufacture of ritual objects such a[s] drumheads and tabernacles.

2. A drumhead cabbage.
   • 1896, Fanny Merritt Farmer, chapter XIX, in The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book‎^[3], Boston: Little, Brown & Co., published 1918:

     The Savoy is best for boiling; drum-head and purple for Cole-Slaw.

Synonyms

• skin, drumskin

Derived terms

• drumhead cabbage
• drumhead clock
• drumhead court-martial
• drumhead tribunal

 

Translations

thin circle of material attached to the top of a drum shell

• Danish: trommeskind
• Dutch: trommelvel (nl) n
• Finnish: rumpukalvo (fi)
• Greenlandic: isi
• Spanish: parche (es)