in architecture, any of the cylindrical stone blocks composing a column that is not a monolith. The term also denotes a circular or polygonal wall supporting a dome, cupola, or lantern (qq.v.).

in packaging, cylindrical container commonly made of metal or fibreboard. steel drums with capacities ranging up to 100 U.S. gallons (379 litres) have been produced since about 1903; the sizes less than 12 gallons (45 litres) are called pails. The most common drums are made of 18-gauge (0.048-inch, or 1.2-millimetre, thick) steel and contain 55 gallons (208 litres); they become the property of the buyer of the contents. Heavier drums or those made of more expensive metals (aluminum, Monel, stainless steel, or nickel) commonly remain the property of the vendor. Provided with a protective interior coating, in most cases a synthetic resin, steel drums or pails can be used for packaging most liquid and solid substances, and they have largely replaced wooden barrels and kegs.

Fibreboard drums have been produced since early in the 20th century. They are made with ends of steel or paperboard in sizes up to 75 gallons and are cheap and lightweight. They are commonly resin-coated or lined with loose plastic bags for packaging solid materials.

in biology, any of about 275 species of fishes of the family Sciaenidae (order Perciformes); drums are carnivorous, generally bottom-dwelling fishes. Most are marine, found along warm and tropical seashores. A number inhabit temperate or fresh waters. Most are noisemakers and can “vocalize” by moving strong muscles attached to the air bladder, which acts as a resonating chamber, amplifying the sounds.

Drums have two dorsal fins and are usually silvery in colour. The weakfishes, seatrouts, and squeteagues (Cynoscion) have large mouths, jutting lower jaws, and canine teeth, but most drums have underslung lower jaws and small teeth. Some have whiskerlike barbels on the chin. The largest member of the family, weighing up to 100 kg (225 pounds), is the totuava (Totoaba macdonaldi) of the Gulf of California; most other species are much smaller.

Although the name croaker, or drum, is applied to the family as a whole and to certain species, some of the sciaenids are known by such names as corbina, whiting, weakfish, and channel bass. Many members of the family are food or game fishes. Among the better-known species are the channel bass, or red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), a large, reddish species of the western Atlantic Ocean; the white seabass (Atractoscion nobilis) of the eastern Pacific; the freshwater drum (Aplodinotus grunniens), a silvery, lake-and-river fish of the Americas; the kingfish, or whiting (Menticirrhus saxatilis), of the Atlantic, notable among drums in that it lacks an air bladder; and the sea drum, or black drum (Pogonias cromis), a gray or coppery red, western Atlantic fish.

(To hear audio clips of a variety of drums, see bass drum, changgo, snare drum, tambourine, tenor drum, and timpani.)

Tubular drums assume many shapes (goblet, hourglass, barrel, etc.) and are considered shallow if the height is less than the diameter. If the drum is so shallow that the shell cannot act as a resonator for the sound (as in a tambourine), it is considered a frame drum.

Shallow kettledrums (kettledrum) are first depicted about 600 AD in Persia. Larger kettledrums, mentioned with the smaller type in the 10th century, are not pictured alone until the 12th. Though originally of clay and cord braced, kettledrums were later made of metal (or sometimes wood). They spread with Islamic culture through Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Little is known about medieval European drums and drumming, the only evidence being pictures and written references; no medieval drums survive. Written percussion parts (in instruction books only) date from the 16th century, as drummers were expected to extemporize their parts. By the 13th century, three types of drum appear to have been established: the nakers (naker), small paired kettledrums; the tab, a small cylindrical drum, often with snares; and the tambourine. They apparently served only as time beaters and, except for the tambourine, were beaten with sticks. Only from about the 14th century were drums built to produce loud, carrying sounds, a result of the introduction of mercenary infantry troops, in whose regiments fifes (fife) were soon paired with drums. Large kettledrums were associated with royalty and nobility. They entered the orchestra as a purely musical instrument in the mid-17th century, the bass drum (derived from the long drums of Turkish Janissary troops) during the 18th century, and the military-derived snare drum (side drum) during the 19th.