strum
1to play on (a stringed musical instrument) by running the fingers lightly across the strings.
to produce (notes, a melody, etc.) by such playing: to strum a tune.
to play on a stringed musical instrument by running the fingers lightly across the strings.
the act of strumming.
the sound produced by strumming.
Origin of strum
1Other words from strum
- strummer, noun
Other definitions for strum (2 of 2)
a strainer, as at the inlet of a system of tubing.
Origin of strum
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use strum in a sentence
I think pianos are for musicians, not strummers, who spoil all chance for any real conversation.
The House in Good Taste | Elsie de WolfeThompson has scaled the white rainbow of the night, and sits in radiant company among the first planetary strummers of song.
Adventures in the Arts | Marsden HartleyWretched bungling strummers, and now they are a kind of fine gentlemen.
Diderot and the Encyclopdists | John Morley
British Dictionary definitions for strum
/ (strʌm) /
to sound (the strings of a guitar, banjo, etc) with a downward or upward sweep of the thumb or of a plectrum
to play (chords, a tune, etc) in this way
Origin of strum
1Derived forms of strum
- strummer, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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