Tom-tom
noun, verb
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A small joined pair of drums, beaten with the hands.
"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."
- 2 any of various drums with small heads wordnet
- 3 Any cylindrical drum, with no snare; part of a drum kit. usually
- 4 Alternative form of tam-tam (“a kind of flat gong”). alt-of, alternative
Verb
- 1 To play the tom-tom (pair of drums).
Example
More examples"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."
Etymology
Onomatopoeic, with reduplication.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.