metal drum
1
3.2
- noun
:
tambor metálico
- During the cleanup, we found several old metal drums hidden behind the bushes.
Examples
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There are also tremendous dump fields of slowly corroding metal drums containing toxins, contaminants, pesticides, and radioactive garbage.
Fiction book (1998) -
The factory used a large metal drum to store the hazardous waste safely.
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The name of each person present went into a brown metal drum.
Fiction book (1997) -
The creature heads toward shore, toting a heavy metal drum on his plated back.
Fiction book (1998) -
The soldier stepped in beside him and shouted, "Raise the gates!" Iron links clattered on a metal drum.
Fiction book (1992) -
It was feeling a lot like fall, and I spun around and, from the hip, I fired into the metal drum my father used sometimes for burning papers and boxes.
Fiction book (1991) -
The bodies of two teens on the rink floor and four more teenagers who had been reported missing last year were found dismembered and stuffed into metal drums.
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I disliked their ogling eyes as my father took them off the hook, and I particularly hated the sight of their dark swirling bodies inside the small metal drum where they stayed until we transported them home, and my father gutted them.
Fiction book (1991) -
As it continues its descent, it passes corroding metal drums leaking toxic waste, radioactive waste, dumped in the depths, away from prying eyes and populated areas.
Fiction book (1998) -
He rolled the empty metal drum to the recycling center to dispose of it properly.
Synonyms
73
1.0
A large metal cylinder for storing and moving liquids and powders
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is directly compositional: 'metal' specifies the material and 'drum' names the large cylindrical container, so the combined meaning (a drum made of metal) follows naturally from the constituents. This is a standard descriptive compound with no idiomatic or metaphorical shift and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand it.
Etymology
Metal drum is a simple name that shows what it is: metal (the material) and drum (a large round container). Imagine a heavy round metal barrel you can roll to move oil or other goods, and that image explains why the term means 'a large round container used to store or move liquids or bulk materials'.