drum up

verb

drummed up; drumming up; drums up

transitive verb

1

: to bring about by persistent effort

drum up some business

2

: invent, originate

drum up a new method

Synonyms

• devise
• construct
• concoct
• invent

Examples of drum up in a Sentence

anyone who drums up a better way of doing this tedious task will make a fortune

Recent Examples on the Web

The hope is that leaking this footage, as well as other assets in the coming weeks, will drum up the buzz needed to get the movie made. —Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Oct. 2025

Intel, the once-dominant chipmaker, is in a fight for its life that requires it to aggressively move into leading-edge chips, including those optimized for AI, while drumming up the funding to float that expensive transition. —Alyson Shontell, Fortune, 8 Oct. 2025

This play doesn’t drum up hatred. —Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 2 Oct. 2025

Labels drum up anticipation for these releases by distributing different variants to different retailers, keeping a tight lid on which version each store will carry. —Heather Bushman, IndyStar, 1 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1830, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for drum up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup