thrum

plural thrums

1. A thrumming sound; a hum or vibration.

   a profusion of insects, which produced a continuous thrum

   2020 February 25, Christopher de Bellaigue, “The end of farming?”, in The Guardian

   1 more example

   Pungent sweat and heatedly trodden grass, fumes of tea and porter, thrum of hooves from the paddock, the strikings-up and dyings-down of the band all fused into an extreme for Antonia, whose own senses, boastful, stood up to it.

   1955, Elizabeth Bowen, chapter II, in A World of Love, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, part I, page 40

2. figurativelyA spicy taste; a tang.

   The trailblazing Oaxacan chef Alejandro Ruiz […] has spiked this black-bean sauce with a hidden depth charge of flavor: patches of foliage from a local avocado tree. The leaves electrify the sauce with an unexpected thrum of black licorice.

   2014 October 25, Jeff Gordinier, “In search of the perfect taco”, in T: The New York Times Style Magazine (international edition), page 100

present singular third person thrums · participle present thrumming · participle past thrummed · past thrummed

1. transitiveTo cause a steady rhythmic vibration in (something), usually by plucking.

   She watched as he thrummed the guitar strings absently.

2. intransitiveTo make a monotonous drumming noise.

   to thrum on a table

   2 more examples

   They were hardly seated, and I had hardly waved good-by to Denver, before he was off, the big motor thrumming with immense birdlike power.

   1957 September 5, Jack Kerouac, chapter 8, in On the Road, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC, part 3

   This doesn’t detract from the fun of bargaining at the variety of Hong Kong’s night markets (those who don’t like to haggle should stay away) that often thrum with shoppers till midnight. The best in town are the Ladies’ Market, for inexpensive women’s clothing, bags, and accessories, and the Temple Street Night Market, for an astonishing selection of everything from clothes and CDs to luggage and shoes—even fortune tellers—at the Yau Ma Tei end of the street.

   2011, Patricia Schultz, “Hong Kong”, in 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, 2nd edition, Workman Publishing, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 489, column 2

plural thrums · alternative thrumb

1. The ends of the warp threads in a loom which remain unwoven attached to the loom when the web is cut.

   The twister is given a harness filled with thrums or short ends of the old warp which has been returned from the looms. These thrums of silk are all that remain of the last warps.

   1899, Belding Bros. & Co, Silk Culture and Manufacturing Shown Progressively (page 43)

2. in pluralA fringe made of such threads.
3. Any short piece of leftover thread or yarn; a tuft or tassel.
4. biologyA threadlike part of a flower; a stamen.
5. biologyA tuft, bundle, or fringe of any threadlike structures, as hairs on a leaf, fibers of a root.
6. anatomyA bundle of minute blood vessels, a plexus.
7. in pluralnauticalSmall pieces of rope yarn used for making mats or mops.
8. nauticalA mat made of canvas and tufts of yarn.
9. businessA shove out of place; a small displacement or fault along a seam.

alternative thrumb

1. not comparableMade of or woven from thrum.

   1 more example

   In Paris, there are scarce two orders of beings more different: for the legislative and executive powers of the shop not resting in the husband, he seldom comes there:—in some dark and dismal room behind, he sits commerce-less, in his thrum nightcap, the same rough son of Nature that Nature left him.

   1768, Laurence Sterne, “The Husband: Paris”, in A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy

present singular third person thrums · participle present thrumming · participle past thrummed · past thrummed · alternative thrumb

1. To furnish with thrums; to insert tufts in; to fringe.

   1644-1646, Francis Quarles, Boanerges and Barnabas—Wine and Oyle for […] afflicted Soules are we born to thrum caps or pick straw?

2. nauticalTo insert short pieces of rope-yarn or spun yarn in.

   to thrum a piece of canvas, or a mat, thus making a rough or tufted surface

plural thrums

1. obsoleteslangA threepenny bit.

   Synonyms: thrummer