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)
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tambours,
present (3rd person singular)
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tamboured,
past participle, past
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tambouring
present participle
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
They use a tambour hook technique called Lunéville, named after the town in Lorraine where it emerged around 1810, having traveled the Silk Road from Asia.
From New York Times ● Oct. 11, 2021
Her favorite piece of furniture is the tambour desk in the East Sitting Hall, part of the private family quarters.
From Time Magazine Archive
The needle, and the entire machine, was basically an attempt to mechanize tambour embroidery, with which the inventor was quite familiar.
From The Invention of the Sewing Machine by Cooper, Grace Rogers
Ten pennons whipped from her masts, and the cry of horns, tambours, and kettledrums blended with the shoutings of her crew.
From A Victor of Salamis by Davis, William Stearns
The domes and cupolas constitute the summits of what are called by architects 'tambours;' the tambours of the cupolas are round, that of the central dome octagonal, and that of the hinder secondary one pentagonal.
From Roumania Past and Present by Samuelson, James
She could never abide me in the country, because I used to dress so badly—but odds frogs and tambours!
From The Rivals A Comedy by Sheridan, Richard Brinsley
The tambours of the side doors and the statues on the latter were destroyed by the flames.
From Rheims and the Battles for its Possession Illustrated Michelin Guides to the Battle-Fields (1914-1918) by Various
Then to the giants' ears were borne, The mingled notes of drum and horn, And clash of tambours smote the sky, And shouting and the battle cry.
From The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Griffith, Ralph T. H. (Ralph Thomas Hotchkin)
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
Two neat shelves on the wall contained a few books; and in the window stood a tambouring frame.
From Discipline by Brunton, Mary
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
Never mind the pieces of needle-work, the tambouring, the maps of the world made by her needle.
From Advice to Young Men And (Incidentally) to Young Women in the Middle and Higher Ranks of Life. In a Series of Letters, Addressed to a Youth, a Bachelor, a Lover, a Husband, a Father, a Citizen, or a Subject. by Cobbett, William
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 Cooper, Grace Rogers
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
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.
