| 释义 |
drummer|ˈdrʌmə(r)|
[f. drum v. + -er1.]
1. One who beats a drum for public or military purposes; one who plays the drum in a band.
In the British army it was formerly also his duty to carry out sentences of the ‘cat’. (Cf. Stocqueler Mil. Encycl. 1853.)
1573–80Baret Alv. D 1309 A Drummer, or plaier on the drumme. 1580Nottingham Rec. IV. 196 Payd to the drummer xvj d. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 50 Drummer strike vp, and let vs march away. 1724De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 206 The preachers were better than drummers to raise volunteers. 1823J. F. Cooper Pioneer iv, The lash drawing through his left, in the scientific manner with which drummers apply the cat. 1844Regul. & Ord. Army 168 The proportion of Acting Drummers shall not exceed Four [to a Company]. 1890Times 17 Dec. 14/4 When the order to commence was given, the first drummer went in and administered 25 lashes, told off deliberately by the drum-major, ‘One, two, three’, and so on.
2. fig.
a. One who solicits custom or orders; a commercial traveller; cf. drum v. 5 and 6 b. orig. U.S.
1827Scott in C. K. Sharpe's Corr. (1888) II. 398 The Nos. of Lodge's book..were left by some drummer of the trade upon speculation. 1860Bartlett Dict. Amer., Drummer, a person employed by city houses to solicit the custom of country merchants. 1882T. S. Hudson Scamper thro' America 183 As enterprising as a Chicago drummer. 1915Ld. Redesdale Memories I. xiii. 287 The boarding house chiefly used by ‘drummers’—travellers of English commercial houses. 1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 26 Drummer,..a commercial traveller.
b. A thief (see quots.). slang.
1856Mayhew Gt. World of London i. 46 Those who hocus or plunder persons by stupefying; as ‘drummers’, who drug liquor. 1859Hotten Dict. Slang 34 Drummer, a robber who first makes his victims insensible by drugs or violence, and then plunders them. 1960Observer 25 Dec. 7/6 Nobody wanted to know the drummers, those squalid daytime operators who turn over empty semi-detached villas while the housewives are out shopping. 1962‘J. Bell’ Crime in our Time iii. 51 They knock at the doors of houses to discover if the owners are at home. The police call them ‘drummers’, because they drum on the doors in this way.
c. Austral. and N.Z. slang. (See quots.)
1898Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Dec., Drummer, the laziest and therefore the slowest shearer in a shed. 1941Baker N.Z. Slang v. 39 Just as ringer is used for the most expert shearer, drummer is used for the worst. 1949P. Newton High Country Days v. 55 Hewett, the learner, and ‘drummer’ of the gang, with seventeen to his credit had also shown an improvement. 1959H. P. Tritton Time means Tucker v. 42/2 It's not every man that is drummer in four sheds running.
d. Austral. and N.Z. slang. A swagman or tramp. Cf. drum n.1 9 f. ? Obs.
1933L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch) 14 Oct. 15/7 Drum, swag, obviously from the shape. Hence drummer. 1945Baker Austral. Lang. v. 102 Bender (1885) and drummer (circa 1890) were once popular terms for tramps of slightly better class than the sundowner.
3. (See quot.)
1885C. Mackeson British Alm. Comp. 94 Among the double meanings..Drummer for a Musician or a Blacksmith's hammer man.
4. Applied to various animals which make a drumming noise, or suggest the action of drumming.
a. A drum-fish. b. The large West Indian cockroach (Blatta gigantea) which makes a noise at night by knocking its head against the woodwork of houses. c. A rabbit. d. Sporting slang: see quot. 1785.
1725Sloane Jamaica II. 290 Drummer-Fish. This was taken at Old Harbour. 1785Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Drummer, a jockey term for a horse that throws about his fore legs irregularly. 1847Carpenter Zool. §665 One of them [species of Blatta] is known in the West Indies by the name of drummer, from the sharp knocking sound which it produces. 1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 170 Grunts, Croakers, and Drummers..deriving their names from the sounds they utter when caught. 1894Blackw. Mag. May 722 ‘When I wanted drummers [rabbits] I could git them for myself.’
5. Comb., as drummer-boy, drummer-fish (see 4), drummer-lad.
1830Scott Demonol. x. 365 Matcham would have deserted had it not been for the presence of a little drummer-lad. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge lviii, The drummer-boys practising in a distant courtyard. |