primarily denotes "to beat a drum" (tumpanon, "a kettledrum," Eng., "tympanal," "tympanitis," "tympanum"), hence, "to torture by beating, to beat to death," Hebrews 11:35 . In the Sept., 1 Samuel 21:13 , "(David) drummed (upon the doors of the city)." The tympanum as an instrument of "torture" seems to have been a wheel-shaped frame upon which criminals were stretched and beaten with clubs or thongs.