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Glite Dictionary
🥁 A drum membrane ⚖️ Hasty legal
drumhead

drumhead

9.8
Done quickly without normal legal steps, often by the military
  • adjective
  • /ˈdrʌmˌhɛd/
  • Jargon
translation icon : sumario
  • Due to the urgency, they held a drumhead proceeding without the usual legal protocols.

Examples

  • The commander ordered a quick drumhead trial to address the issue swiftly.

  • This means that the debate over Billy Budd centers on the brief, pro forma, drumhead court meeting called by Vere to confirm that Billy must be hanged.

    Academic text (1993)

  • In wartime, decisions are often made in drumhead sessions to expedite justice.

Synonyms

summary
vsdrumhead
  • Formal
5.5

Done quickly without the usual formal process, often as punishment

is specific to legal proceedings and military settings emphasizing a hastily run process

Antonyms

deliberate
125 4.1

Done on purpose after careful thought

formal
  • Formal
63 3.0

Using correct grammar without slang or contractions

Compounds

drumhead court-martial
  • Formal
9.9

A quick military trial held in the field for urgent offenses without the usual rules

How Hasty

drumhead
  • Jargon
9.8
summary
  • Formal
5.5

Surface Forms

drumhead positive

Morphology

drumhead = drum + head (opaque) = drum + head

Structurally the word is the compound 'drum' + 'head', which is clear from form, though the specialized meaning is not predictable.

Etymology

Drumhead (used about quick justice) comes from a military practice of doing quick trials near the battle and using a drum's head as a table. So a 'drumhead' trial means a fast, informal kind of justice without the usual legal steps.