rataplan

• “Then comes the military réveille, and the deafening 'rataplan' of regimental drums, and the town is soon alive with people arriving and departing by the early trains; whilst others collect in the market-place in holiday attire with baskets of flowers, and commence the erection of an altar to the Virgin in the middle of the square.”

  Normandy Picturesque

• “Cusins flourishes his drumsticks as if in the art of beating a lively rataplan, but makes no sound.”

  Major Barbara

• “The child-actress was the prop of her mother and the donkey; her talent also kept the youth, who began to agitate the nerves of Beynac with his diabolical rataplan hours before each performance.”

  Two Summers in Guyenne

• “Then on, with, the galloping even triplet of the house's hoofs beneath me, as they came down in quick succession, as if the earth were a muffled drum and we were beating an untiring rataplan on her breast.”

  Mr. Isaacs

• “Mr. Gordon performed a surpassing rataplan upon his long-suffering thumb-joint and wondered if this queer and direct being might qualify among the redeemable ten per cent.”

  Success A Novel

• “Then the quick, sharp roll of the rataplan sounded through the miserable streets of the old city, as with ever-increasing shouts of "Aux armes! aux armes!”

  Historic Boys Their Endeavours, Their Achievements, and Their Times

• “A cool breeze went; the hoofs of the horses beat a rataplan on the hard surface; the great road, broad enough to make three of, was alive with smart gigs and trotters.”

  Australia Felix

• “It affords endless amusement to listen to their endless variety of complaint; some are restless, some spiteful, and some angry, while others sound as merrily as a teakettle, or beat a jolly 'rub-a-dub,' 'rataplan,' that makes a man's soul merry to hear.”

  The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 3, September 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy

• “A rataplan on a side-drum feebly played in the street outside!”

  Pushed and the Return Push

• “Most of the time it was far away, and it only made two daily promenades past the hotel, but whenever I listened for it I could hear it, beating the same unweary rataplan.”

  Schwartz: A History From "Schwartz" by David Christie Murray

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