jungle drums

noun

Drumming performed, or as performed, in the rituals of traditional preindustrial societies.

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Meanings

nounjungle drums pl (plural only)
  1. pluralplural onlyanthropologyDrumming performed, or as performed, in the rituals of traditional preindustrial societies.
  2. figurativelypluralplural onlyAn informal network of news and gossip; the grapevine.

    Durham was only thirty miles from Middlesbrough, but clearly isolated from the jungle drums of Teesside gossip.

    2020, Fiona Erskine, The Chemical Reaction
    1 more example

    The word was out, the jungle drums were thumping, and I was beseeched by the glazed and mahogany masses for whom Canada is not simply a heterogeneous and upscaled lifestyle but an entirely new sense of possibilities.

    1998, Lorne Foster, Turnstile Immigration: Multiculturalism, Social Order & Social Justice in Canada, page 27

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
grapevine
Cite this entry
APA

jungle drums. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jungle%20drums

MLA

“jungle drums.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jungle%20drums. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “jungle drums,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jungle%20drums.

Source: jungle drums on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.