KETTLEDRUM • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Kettledrum

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noun

Kettledrum n.

(Mus.) A drum made of thin copper in the form of a hemispherical kettle, with parchment stretched over the mouth of it. Note: Kettledrums, in pairs, were formerly used in martial music for cavalry, but are now chiefly confined to orchestras, where they are called tympani.

An informal social party at which a light collation is offered, held in the afternoon or early evening. Cf. Drum, n., 4 and 5.

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Etymology of 'Kettledrum'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Kettledrum" Quotes from Famous Books

... happened in winter, the bandmaster of the town and his colleagues, supported by a few other moderate dilettante players, gave a concert, and I, owing to the strict time I always kept, was permitted to play the kettledrum in the symphony. It was not until later that I perceived how ridiculous and extravagant these concerts were. My teacher generally played two concertos on the piano by Wolff or Emanuel Bach,[3] a member of the town band ...

— Weird Tales. Vol. I • E. T. A. Hoffmann

... with hands respectfully joined. Some were reading plays and beautiful poems, others danced and others performed with glittering fingers and flashing arms on various instruments —the ivory lute, the ebony pipe and the silver kettledrum. In short, all the means and appliances of pleasure and enjoyment were there; and any description of the appearance of the apartments, which were the wonder of ...

— Vikram and the Vampire • Sir Richard F. Burton

... was a great kettledrum, formed like a brazen caldron, tapering to the bottom and covered with buffalo-hide—at least 3-1/2 or 4 feet in diameter. Bernier, indeed, tells of Nakkaras in use at the Court of Delhi that were not less than ...

— The Travels of Marco Polo Volume 1 • Marco Polo and Rustichello of Pisa

... kettledrum, the tea being our own and made under personal supervision, Miss Blunt perched herself on a hillock to sketch, and Mr. Sydney explored the neighbourhood for flowers, of which gentians were the principal object of his search. Both having in a certain degree attained their ends, we started again at ...

— Twixt France and Spain • E. Ernest Bilbrough

... feel that her impatience had misled her, and that she would have been better off with the aunt who was used to such places, and whose trim browns and crimsons were always appropriate everywhere, rather than this dainty figure in delicate hues that looked only fit for the Esplanade or the kettledrum, and who was becoming seriously uneasy, as Kunz, in his fresh snowiness, was disposed to make researches among vulgar remains of crabs and hakes, and was with difficulty restrained from disputing them with a very ignoble and spiteful ...

— Beechcroft at Rockstone • Charlotte M. Yonge