thrum

/θrəm/

Other forms: thrums; thrumming; thrummed

When you make a rhythmic strumming sound, either with your voice or a stringed instrument, you thrum. If you and your friends all play the guitar, it may be fun sometimes to sit around and thrum together, improvising tunes.

This word can also be used as a noun, to describe the kind of melodic hum that guitar strings make when you strum them. So you might say you found your way back to the campsite by following the thrum of your mom's mandolin, or that you love the thrum of rain on the metal roof of your grandparents' house. Thrum, like strum and hum, is imitative, mimicking the sound it describes.

Definitions of thrum

1. verb

   sound the strings of (a string instrument)
   synonyms: strum

   type of:

   sound

   cause to sound
2. verb

   sound with a monotonous hum
   synonyms: hum

   type of:

   go, sound

   make a certain noise or sound
3. verb

   make a rhythmic sound
   synonyms: beat, drum

   beat

   indicate by beating, as with the fingers or drumsticks

   type of:

   go, sound

   make a certain noise or sound
4. noun

   a thrumming sound
   “he could hear the thrum of a banjo”

   type of:

   sound

   the sudden occurrence of an audible event