DCHP-3

medicine drum

DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

a drum used by medicine-men (def. 1a) in their incantations.

See: medicine-man (def. 1a)

Quotations

1801
The fellow came accordingly with his drum and medicine bag. . . .
1861
The sick woman was lying in a buffalo skin tent; the conjuror, painted and decorated, employed himself in beating a medicine drum within a few feet of her.
1898
His medicine drum was very similar in shape to an old fashioned dasher churn.