drummer

Etymology

It is formed from English drum + -er,^[2][3][4][5] partly from the noun and partly from the verb according to the OED;^[2] Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford derive it from the verb.^[4][3] The OED compares the obsolete Dutch trommer (1621).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who plays a drum: 1574, in Baret's Alvearie.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to 1580, Etymonline to the 1570s and Dictionary.com to 1565–75.^[6][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Slightly earlier, a drummer was called a drumslade (1520s), and Middle English had tabourer and taborner.^[4] From 1578 the word was used for a soldier who gave signals with a drum.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as the man whose office is to beat the drum, quoting Shakespeare's Henry IV.^[7] It was soon applied to animals that make a drumming noise: the drum fish (1615), a large cockroach of the Caribbean (1764) and the ruffed grouse (1868).^[2] From 1828, in a letter of Walter Scott, a drummer was a person who drummed up orders, a travelling salesman, chiefly in American and Australian use;^[2][8] Etymonline dates to drum up business to 1839 in American English.^[4] In British slang it meant a thief who drugged his victims (1856) and later a burglar (1934),^[2][8] and in Australia and New Zealand the slowest shearer in a shed (1891) and a swagman (1898).^[2][8] In Cumberland dialect it was also the wall brown butterfly.^[9]

Timeline

• 1574 – a person who plays a drum.^[2]
• 1578 – a soldier who signals with a drum.^[2]
• 1615 – the drum fish.^[2]
• 1764 – a large cockroach of the Caribbean.^[2]
• 1828 – a travelling salesman.^[2][8]
• 1856 – a thief who drugs his victims.^[2]
• 1891 – the slowest shearer in a shed, in Australia.^[2]
• 1898 – a swagman, in Australia.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who plays a drum or the drums, in a band, an orchestra or a military unit: The band needs a new drummer.^[6][2][5]
2. (chiefly US, colloquial) A travelling salesman.^[2][5][3]
3. (Australia, New Zealand) The slowest shearer in a shed.^[2][10][8]
4. (Australia, dated) A swagman or tramp.^[6][3][8]
5. (slang) A thief, especially a burglar.^[2][3][10]
6. Any of various fishes that make a drumming sound, especially an Australian and New Zealand sea chub.^[6][2][10]
7. A large tropical American cockroach that drums on wood.^[6][2]
8. march to a different drummer: to be guided by values different from most people's.^[5]

Related words

• drum
• drumslade
• tabor

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
10. ^ a b c Deverson, Tony; Kennedy, Graeme, eds. (2005), The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary, Auckland: Oxford University Press