E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
John Drum’s Entertainment.
Hauling a man by his ears and thrusting him out by the shoulders. The allusion is to “drumming” a man out of the army. There is a comedy so called, published 1601.
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“When your lordship sees the bottom of his success in ’t … if you give him not John Drum’s entertainment, your inclining cannot be removed.”—Shakespeare: All’s Well that Ends Well, iii. 6.
