tambour
Americannoun
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Music. a drum.
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a drum player.
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Also called tabaret. a circular frame consisting of two hoops, one fitting within the other, in which cloth is stretched for embroidering.
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embroidery done on such a frame.
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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.
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Architecture. drum.
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Court Tennis. a sloping buttress opposite the penthouse, on the hazard side of the court.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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real tennis the sloping buttress on one side of the receiver's end of the court
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a small round embroidery frame, consisting of two concentric hoops over which the fabric is stretched while being worked
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embroidered work done on such a frame
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a sliding door on desks, cabinets, etc, made of thin strips of wood glued side by side onto a canvas backing
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architect a wall that is circular in plan, esp one that supports a dome or one that is surrounded by a colonnade
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a drum
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tamboursimple
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tambourssimple
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have tambouredperfect
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has tambouredperfect
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am tambouringprogressive
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are tambouringprogressive
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is tambouringprogressive
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have been tambouringperfect progressive
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has been tambouringperfect progressive
Past
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tambouredsimple
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had tambouredperfect
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was tambouringprogressive
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were tambouringprogressive
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had been tambouringperfect progressive
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
It is a hybrid instrument - his invention - combining the neck of an guitar with a traditional four-stringed tambour.
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2022
Bronzed mirrors, terrazzo floor, brass snoots illuminating tambour walls — it feels more 1970s Milan than 21st-century New York.
From New York Times ● Jan. 27, 2011
Her favorite piece of furniture is the tambour desk in the East Sitting Hall, part of the private family quarters.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Is it John, mother?” asked Peggy, letting her tambour frame fall to the floor.
From Peggy Owen Patriot A Story for Girls by Madison, Lucy Foster
The misbelievers called on Mahomet, and the Christians on Santiago, and the noise of the tambours and of the trumpets was so great that none could hear his neighbour.
From The Moors in Spain by Lane-Poole, Stanley
Morris, Morrice, mor′is, Morr′is-dance, n. a Moorish dance: a dance in which bells, rattles, tambours, &c. are introduced.—v.i.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
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 Horne, Charles F. (Charles Francis)
Strange shouts of denunciation blended with the harsh braying of horns, and the clang and clash of cymbals and tambours sounded in every quarter of the city.
From Alroy The Prince Of The Captivity by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield
The monotony of this sound is varied on the tambours, and neither of those instruments is used when the dancers pause for the lady's-chain.
From The Pearl of the Antilles, or An Artist in Cuba by Goodman, Walter
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 Ingraham, Jonathon Holt
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 Hogarth, C. J.
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 Ingraham, Jonathon Holt
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 Hammerton, John Alexander, Sir
Two neat shelves on the wall contained a few books; and in the window stood a tambouring frame.
From Discipline by Brunton, Mary
Their employments are the needle, tambouring, and reading.
From Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 1 With His Letters and Journals by Moore, Thomas
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 Bolton, Sarah K.
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 Cooper, Grace Rogers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
