Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Drumbeat \Drum"beat`\, n.
   The sound of a beaten drum; drum music.

         Whose morning drumbeat, following the sun, and keeping
         company with the hours, circles the earth with one
         continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of
         England.                                 --D. Webster.

Source : WordNet®

drumbeat
     n 1: the sound made by beating a drum [syn: {rub-a-dub}, {rataplan}]
     2: (military) the beating of a drum as a signal for lowering
        the flag at sundown
     3: a vehement and vociferous advocacy of a cause; "the
        warmongers kept up their drumbeat on Iraq"