to beat the drum for
1
6.3
- phrasal verb
:
abogar por
- It is obvious that the tea party Republicans beat the drum for the wealthy.
Examples
-
And of course I beat the drum for Primus's platform.
Fiction book (1991) -
I will keep beating the drum for Joe Johnston.
Blog text (18) -
So, as much as I despise these overwhelmed replacements, I'm no longer beating the drum for the regular refs.
Blog text (21) -
Frankly, I haven't seen many Leftie Purity Trolls of the Male Variety be too concerned about the injustice of that until they needed to piggyback onto the issue as a way of beating the drum for their Pet Shiny Public Option.
Blog text (31) -
And who among the corporate-owned mainstream media is beating the drum for the principles and values we grew up believing America stands for, as many mistakes as we know we've made in the past—principles we thought were inviolable in theory if not always in practice?
Blog text (31) -
The senator has been beating the drum for environmental reform to protect the planet.
-
Activists continue to beat the drum for equal rights and social justice in their community.
-
She always beats the drum for education funding, believing it is crucial for the future.
Synonyms
69
3.9
Publicly support a cause, policy, or idea
26
4.1
To try to get more interest or support by telling people about something
2
5.5
To speak or act strongly to support a cause
1
9.5
To promote something loudly and with exaggeration to get attention
Begin to strongly defend a person or cause in public
Antonyms
How Enthusiastic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to speak enthusiastically in support' is a metaphorical extension of the literal action of 'beating a drum' to attract attention or rally people, and the preposition 'for' explicitly marks support. Although the constituent meanings point toward promotion/advocacy, the idiomatic shift from a physical action to verbal or rhetorical advocacy is not entirely predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
Beat the drum for comes from the image of someone literally beating a drum at a public meeting or rally to make noise and draw people's attention to a cause, so the drum shows strong support. That's why today to beat the drum for something means 'to speak loudly and with energy in support of' it.