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.

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verb (used with or without object)

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

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verb

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

Etymology

Origin of tambour

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

Example Sentences

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

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

Gabrielle was singing softly as she bent over her tambour frame.

From A Blot on the Scutcheon by Knowles, Mabel Winifred