Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
tom-tom. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
tom-tom, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
tom-tom in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
tom-tom you have here. The definition of the word
tom-tom will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
tom-tom, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
Onomatopoeic, with reduplication.
Noun
tom-tom (plural tom-toms)
- A small joined pair of drums, beaten with the hands.
1928 February, H P Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”, in Farnsworth Wright, editor, Weird Tales: A Magazine of the Bizarre and Unusual, volume 11, number 2, Indianapolis, Ind.: Popular Fiction Pub. Co., →OCLC, pages 159–178 and 287:It was voodoo, apparently, but voodoo of a more terrible sort than they had ever known; and some of their women and children had disappeared since the malevolent tom-tom had begun its incessant beating far within the black haunted woods where no dweller ventured.
- (usually as a pair) Any cylindrical drum, with no snare; part of a drum kit.
- Alternative form of tam-tam (“a kind of flat gong”)
Verb
tom-tom (third-person singular simple present tom-toms, present participle tom-tomming, simple past and past participle tom-tommed)
- To play the tom-tom (pair of drums).
Anagrams