thrum means A thrumming sound; a hum or vibration. It carries an Arena rating of 1608, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, thrum ranks #89 of 17,130 for Most Ingenious Words, #3,391 of 17,150 for Funniest Words, #3,941 of 17,115 for Most Vivid Words, #4,389 of 17,128 for Most Whimsical Words.
thrum is pronounced /θɹʌm/.
Why “thrum” is a great word
A continuous, rhythmic, often percussive humming or vibrating sound, or the fringe of unwoven warp threads left on a loom. The sound-sense is imitative in origin; the weaving sense derives from Middle English *thrum*, from Old English *-thrum* (as in *tungethrum*, 'ligament of the tongue'), from Proto-Germanic *þrumą* ('fragment, end'). Unlike a *hum*, which suggests a softer, steady constancy, or a *strum*, which implies deliberate, sweeping musical strokes, a *thrum* is a vibration with texture and idle repetition. It is the percussive drone of rain on a taut tarp, the felt vibration of machinery through a factory floor, and the idle, monotonous plucking of a single guitar string while the mind is elsewhere—a sound that is both the product of work and the evidence of its frayed, unfinished edges.
noun
- A thrumming sound; a hum or vibration.e.g.“a profusion of insects, which produced a continuous thrum”
- A spicy taste; a tang.
- The ends of the warp threads in a loom which remain unwoven attached to the loom when the web is cut.e.g.“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.”
- A fringe made of such threads.
- Any short piece of leftover thread or yarn; a tuft or tassel.
- A threadlike part of a flower; a stamen.
- A tuft, bundle, or fringe of any threadlike structures, as hairs on a leaf, fibers of a root.
- A bundle of minute blood vessels, a plexus.
- Small pieces of rope yarn used for making mats or mops.
- A mat made of canvas and tufts of yarn.
- A shove out of place; a small displacement or fault along a seam.
- A threepenny bit.
verb
- To cause a steady rhythmic vibration in (something), usually by plucking.e.g.“She watched as he thrummed the guitar strings absently.”
- To make a monotonous drumming noise.e.g.“to thrum on a table”
- To furnish with thrums; to insert tufts in; to fringe.e.g.“1644-1646, Francis Quarles, Boanerges and Barnabas—Wine and Oyle for […] afflicted Soules
are we born to thrum caps or pick straw?”
- To insert short pieces of rope-yarn or spun yarn in.e.g.“to thrum a piece of canvas, or a mat, thus making a rough or tufted surface”
adj
- Made of or woven from thrum.
Words closest in meaning
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