drumhead court-martial

American  

noun

1. a court-martial held, usually on a battlefield, for the summary trial of charges of offenses committed during military operations.

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drumhead court-martial British  

noun

1. a military court convened to hear urgent charges of offences committed in action

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Etymology

Origin of drumhead court-martial

First recorded in 1825–35; so called from the use of a drumhead as a table during the court-martial

Example Sentences

The elderly and old-fashioned Anglo-Egyptian militarist, with his doctrine and discipline of the barrack-room and the drumhead court-martial, was never regarded by the workers with a shade of suspicion.

From Lord Kitchener by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)

So they give Afiola a sort of drumhead court-martial, and bounced him unanimous, and all the pent-up deviltry of the man came out of him at one lick, like touching off a dynamite cartridge.

From Wild Justice: Stories of the South Seas by Osbourne, Lloyd

Even th' rookies, what had seen a lot o' service, knowed that he was makin' himself liable—an' him a general—t' be called up on a drumhead court-martial.

From Injun and Whitey to the Rescue by Hart, William S.

But for British magnanimity a drumhead court-martial should have taken the place of the hospitality of the Ceylon planters.

From The Great Boer War by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir

He was at once made a prisoner and marched as such to Walmer forest, when the commanding officer applied for a drumhead court-martial.

From A Soldier's Life Being the Personal Reminiscences of Edwin G. Rundle by Woodside, Henry J.