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• n  the sound made by beating a drum

• Last week, with no rataplan of drums, The Admiral and The Biscuit met at Pimlico.
• With the announcement, Peking's vast Square of Heavenly Peace resounded to the beating of gongs, the clash of cymbals, the rataplan of exploding firecrackers.
• They responded to the starter with a rataplan of cylinder explosions that soon mellowed into a roar.

• rub-a-dub
• drumbeat