Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. Music To play (a stringed instrument) idly or monotonously: thrummed a guitar.
- v. To speak, repeat, or recite in a monotonous tone of voice; drone.
- v. Music To strum idly on a stringed instrument.
- v. To speak in a monotonous tone of voice; drone.
- n. A thrumming sound.
- n. The fringe of warp threads left on a loom after the cloth has been cut off.
- n. One of these threads.
- n. A loose end, fringe, or tuft of thread.
- n. Nautical Short bits of rope yarn inserted into canvas to roughen the surface.
- v. To cover or trim with thrums; fringe.
- v. Nautical To sew thrums in (canvas).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The character of being thrumeyed.
- n. The fringe of threads which remains attached to a loom when the web has been cut off; also, one of such threads.
- n. Hence Any loose thread, or a mass or tuft of loose filamentous material.
- n. A tuft, or a collection of tufts; a fringe or tassel.
- n. pl. Naut., short bits of rope-yarn used for sewing on mats.
- n. plural Coarse yarn; waste yarn.
- n. A ragged rocky headland swept by the sea. Also thrum-cap.
- Made of thrums, or waste yarn: as, a thrum cap or hat.
- To make of or cover with thrums, or appendages resembling thrums.
- To thatch.
- To play with the fingers on a stringed instrument in an idle, listless, monotonous, or unskilful manner; strum.
- To drum or tap idly on something with the fingers.
- To play idly or unskilfully on (some stringed instrument) with the fingers; sound by fingering in a listless or monotonous manner.
- To drum or tap idly on.
- n. A monotonous sound, as from the careless or unskilful fingering of a guitar or harp.
- n. A troop.
- n. A heap.
Wiktionary
- n. A thrumming sound
- n. The fringe of threads of warp left after cloth has been cut off of a loom
- n. Any short piece of yarn or rope
- v. To cause a steady rhythmic vibration, usually by plucking.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One of the ends of weaver's threads; hence, any soft, short threads or tufts resembling these.
- n. Any coarse yarn; an unraveled strand of rope.
- n. A threadlike part of a flower; a stamen.
- n. A shove out of place; a small displacement or fault along a seam.
- n. A mat made of canvas and tufts of yarn.
- v. To furnish with thrums; to insert tufts in; to fringe.
- v. To insert short pieces of rope-yarn or spun yarn in.
- v. To play rudely or monotonously on a stringed instrument with the fingers; to strum.
- v. Hence, to make a monotonous drumming noise.
- v. To play, as a stringed instrument, in a rude or monotonous manner.
- v. Hence, to drum on; to strike in a monotonous manner; to
thrum the table.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a thrumming sound
- v. sound with a monotonous hum
- v. sound the strings of (a string instrument)
- v. make a rhythmic sound
Etymologies
- Imitative.Middle English, from Old English -thrum, ligament (of the tongue) (in tungethrum, ligament of the tongue).
Examples
“The thrum is the fringed end of a weaver's web; a thrum hat was made of very coarse tufted woollen cloth.”
“The genotype GgAaPp gives rise to the "thrum" phenotype, which has short styles, long anthers, and thrum pollen.”
“- The dominant P, allele codes for "thrum" pollen, the recessive, p allele codes for "pin" pollen, which is much smaller.”
“thrum" like appearance of the hair, which is of a somewhat reddish tinge, occasioned no doubt by constant exposure to the sun and weather.”
“A thrum vibrated through the air, the sound so deep it could only be felt, not heard.”
“The Samoset rolled and righted on a sea, and in the light breeze her canvas gave forth a hollow thrum.”
“Joan and Sheldon heard the twanging thrum and saw Koogoo throw out his arms, at the same time dropping his rifle, stumble forward, and sink down on his hands and knees.”
“Funk said the constant thrum of traffic wasn't as disruptive as the pounding that woke her family during the ICC's construction over the past three years.”
“They swoop down in a thrum of feathers and bah-clawk clucks, angry as chickens can be, and they actually damage Link.”
Feel the Wrath of Chickens, or The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
“The constant thrum of conversation filled the hall while the lovely undercurrent of music played on.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘thrum’.
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Sounds
words that describe sound
atchoo, atishoo, babble, bam, bay, beep, blast, blather, bleat, bleep, blip, bong and 241 more...
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Hence
Words with definitions that have a "hence" in them.
hanger, Deet, tripe, spindlelegs, fiddle, store, pluck, snap, villain, link, comedy, particular and 376 more...
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Fibers & Fabrics
zibeline, havelock, pashmina, qiviut, sartorial, noil, balbriggan, fichu, bombazine, cambric, placket, gabardine and 17 more...
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rolls off the tongue
Words you love saying because they feel and sound so good!
(Not to be conflated with words you love saying because they are onomatopoeic, I have another list for that)gubernatorial, predeliction, quibbling, propensity, proclivity, insidious, nebulous, garble, crabapple, piddling, prattle, wheedling and 11 more...
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onomatopoeic
warble, quibble, quirk, drudgery, chortle, snicker, galumph, thwart, schlock, whimsy, garble, miffed and 25 more...

bilby
We learn to trill Italian songs,
And thrum for hours the tortured keys:
We think it pleases you, and we
But live to please.
- Richard Henry Stoddard, 'A Woman's Poem'. Sep 17, 2009
rolig "The post-road itself is now swept into a chasmal by-pass, crossed by high footbridges that lead to new, remote parts of the town. I'd been there at night sometimes with people I'd picked up. The cars thrumming past added a certain desperate glamour to my vertigo."
– Alan Hollinghurst, The Folding Star Sep 24, 2007