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tambour

American  
[tam-boor, tam-boor] / ˈtæm bʊər, tæmˈbʊər /

noun

  1. Music. a drum.

  2. a drum player.

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

  4. embroidery done on such a frame.

  5. 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.

  6. Architecture. drum.

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


verb (used with or without object)

  • tambours,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • tamboured,
    past participle,  past
  • tambouring
    present participle
  1. to embroider on a tambour.

tambour British  
/ 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

  3. embroidered work done on such a frame

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

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

  6. a drum

"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

verb

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

"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

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future


Etymology

Origin of tambour

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


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

“This is Jean-Pierre Calodat,” said Josée Grard, 81, running her fingers along the name written on the globe-shaped sculpture as tambour drums echoed around her.

From New York Times ● Jan. 25, 2024

But when she tried her hand at drapo, which traditionally involved only sequins, she found that tambour and beadwork opened new possibilities in contour, depth and detail.

From New York Times ● Jan. 25, 2023

It is a hybrid instrument - his invention - combining the neck of an guitar with a traditional four-stringed tambour.

From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2022

Stowage above is behind teak tambour doors, and below in three drawers and two cabinets.

From Time Magazine Archive

It is not truth, but falsehood which requires explanation, and Maria was sensible of this fact as she sat at her tambour frame thinking of Agnes and of Harry and of her uncle Neil.

From A Song of a Single Note A Love Story by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr

The drums beat to arms in Saragossa's town, the tambours roll, the tabors sound, and 400,000 men attend the call of King Marsil.

From Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 5 A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History by Charles F. (Charles Francis) Horne

The golden voice was octaves deeper, vibrant, throbbing with that muffled, menacing note that must have pulsed from the golden tambours that summoned to battle Timur's fierce hordes.

From The Metal Monster by Abraham Merritt

Six of them had immense flat drums or tambours, which they presently began to beat noisily.

From Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by Walter L. (Walter Lytle) Pyle

After each strophe the music struck in, consisting of two queerly shaped tambours and a shrill flute.

From The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton Volume I by Mrs. Russell Barrington

A little group of men with pitos and tambours strolled from place to place, playing.

From In Indian Mexico (1908) by Frederick Starr

Through the bosom of the frock, which was folded back, appeared linen of the finest cambric, richly tamboured, as if done by the fair fingers of some tasteful maiden.

From Captain Kyd, Vol. II or, The Wizard of the Sea by Jonathon Holt Ingraham

Also say that I have altered my mind about the satin, which I wish to be tamboured with crochet-work; also, that tambour is to be used with monograms on the various garments.

From Poor Folk by C. J. Hogarth

The wristbands over his finely shaped and gloved hands were tamboured in the same beautiful manner, and fringed with lace of the most costly texture.

From Captain Kyd, Vol. II or, The Wizard of the Sea by Jonathon Holt Ingraham

Lady Laura, in the centre, winds silk on a card from a skein held by Lady Horatia; while Lady Maria, on the right, bends over her tambouring frame.

From Famous European Artists by Sarah K. Bolton

From this superficial description of its work, the device might seem to be just another tambouring machine.

From The Invention of the Sewing Machine by Grace Rogers Cooper

In England, Edward Newton and Thomas Archbold invented and patented a machine on May 4, 1841, for tambouring or ornamenting the backs of gloves.

From The Invention of the Sewing Machine by Grace Rogers Cooper

Two neat shelves on the wall contained a few books; and in the window stood a tambouring frame.

From Discipline by Mary Brunton

Weavers of muslin were brought to the mill, and women to teach the lassie bairns in our old clachan tambouring instead of hand-spinning.

From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 04 — Fiction by Sir John Alexander Hammerton

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