Wiktionary
n. A type of frame drum used in Celtic music which was traditionally played by being struck with with an animal bone, or in modern times, a piece of wood.
Wikipedia
The bodhrán ( or ; plural bodhráin or bodhráns) is an Irish frame drum ranging from 25 to 65 cm (10 to 26 in) in diameter, with most drums measuring 35 to 45 cm (14 to 18 in). The sides of the drum are 9 to 20 cm ( to 8 in) deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads or other animal skins are sometimes used). The other side is open-ended for one hand to be placed against the inside of the drum head to control the pitch and timbre.
One or two crossbars, sometimes removable, may be inside the frame, but this is increasingly rare on modern instruments. Some professional modern bodhráns integrate mechanical tuning systems similar to those used on drums found in drum kits. It is usually with a hex key that the bodhrán skins are tightened or loosened depending on the atmospheric conditions.
Usage examples of "bodhran".
Taking down his bodhran with his free hand and flicking a finger against the drum head to check the tautness, he explained briefly the tradition of the fiery cross.
She leaned across and kissed him, handing him the kid as she did so, and taking his bodhran in exchange.
Roger paused, coming from the horses with a lumpy roll of blankets under one arm, his bodhran under the other.
Kenny was thumping his bodhran, chanting in rhythm, and the group of men around him were joining in.
Lindsay began to tap gently on his bodhran, hesitating between the beats, a sound of soft suspense.
The bodhran still hung in its place on the wall, seeming to float suspended in the unearthly light.
A kitchen-rag stirred on its nail by the hearth, and the skin of his bodhran thrummed faintly as the draft passed by.
The bodhran began beating from the back of the dwelling and was soon joined by the rapid thready sound of the whistles as the tunes for jigs and reels took the place of the delicate harp music.
The sound began from far away, a moaning, then a deep thrumming, a sound like a bodhran, like a hundred bodhrans, thunder arising from the stretched skins, filling the sky, the grasses, the river.
The bodhran player was up to the hunt and he smiled and closed his eyes while his hands became a blur.
They danced until they were glowing with exertion and the musiciansfiddler, bodhran, and pipesstopped to refresh themselves from a keg of beer placed nearby.
I heard the rhythmic beat of the drum, the booming bodhran, urgent, compelling.
He thumped the tabletop with his monstrously large hands, little finger and thumb extended, as if playing a bodhran drum, keeping excellent rhythm.
The fine droplets hissed through the tree branches and spattered on the large, broad leaves with a rhythm like the bodhran drams of the old country.
Brazen trumpet and goatskin-covered bodhran announced the approach of the Dalcassians.