tambour

[ tam-boor, tam-boor ]

noun
  1. Music. a drum.

  2. a drum player.

  1. Also called tabaret. a circular frame consisting of two hoops, one fitting within the other, in which cloth is stretched for embroidering.

  2. embroidery done on such a frame.

  3. Furniture. a flexible shutter used as a desk top or in place of a door, composed of a number of closely set wood strips attached to a piece of cloth, the whole sliding in grooves along the sides or at the top and bottom.

  4. Architecture. drum1 (def. 10).

  5. Court Tennis. a sloping buttress opposite the penthouse, on the hazard side of the court.

verb (used with or without object)
  1. to embroider on a tambour.

Origin of tambour

1
1475–85; <Middle French: drum ≪ Arabic tanbūr lute <Medieval Greek pandoúra;cf. bandore

Words Nearby tambour

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use tambour in a sentence

  • All American Indians are poor in musical instruments, the principal of which, and the heel inspiring one, is the drum or tambour.

  • It belongs as much to our art as does tambour work, which is done with a hook instead of a needle.

    Needlework As Art | Marian Alford
  • Chain and tambour Stitch are in effect practically the same, and present the same rather granular surface.

    Art in Needlework | Lewis F. Day
  • According to Darmstetter the word ‘timbre’ is own brother to ‘tambour,’ both being derived from a low Latin form of tympanum.

    Rustic Sounds | Francis Darwin
  • She set up a great tambour frame in her room, and began to work on an enormous piece of fine needlework.

    The Odyssey | Homer

British Dictionary definitions for tambour

tambour

/ (ˈtæmbʊə) /


noun
  1. real tennis the sloping buttress on one side of the receiver's end of the court

  2. a small round embroidery frame, consisting of two concentric hoops over which the fabric is stretched while being worked

  1. embroidered work done on such a frame

  2. a sliding door on desks, cabinets, etc, made of thin strips of wood glued side by side onto a canvas backing

  3. architect a wall that is circular in plan, esp one that supports a dome or one that is surrounded by a colonnade

  4. a drum

verb
  1. to embroider (fabric or a design) on a tambour

Origin of tambour

1
C15: from French, from tabour tabor

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012