1.
[syn: rub-a-dub, rataplan, drumbeat]
2. (military) the beating of a drum as a signal for lowering the flag at sundown;
3. a vehement and vociferous advocacy of a cause;
- Example: "the warmongers kept up their drumbeat on Iraq"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Drumbeat \Drum"beat`\, n.
The sound of a beaten drum; drum music.
[1913 Webster]
Whose morning drumbeat, following the sun, and keeping
company with the hours, circles the earth with one
continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of
England. --D. Webster.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
drumbeat
n 1: the sound made by beating a drum [syn: rub-a-dub,
rataplan, drumbeat]
2: (military) the beating of a drum as a signal for lowering the
flag at sundown
3: a vehement and vociferous advocacy of a cause; "the
warmongers kept up their drumbeat on Iraq"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
36 Moby Thesaurus words for "drumbeat":
barrage, beat, beating, drum, drum music, drumfire, drumming,
flutter, palpitation, paradiddle, patter, pitapat, pitter-patter,
pound, pounding, pulsation, rat-a-tat, rat-tat, rat-tat-tat,
rataplan, rattattoo, roll, rub-a-dub, ruff, ruffle, spatter,
splutter, sputter, staccato, tat-tat, tattoo, throb, throbbing,
thrum, thumping, tom-tom