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timbrel

[tim-bruh l]
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noun
  1. a tambourine or similar instrument.
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Origin of timbrel

1490–1500; earlier timbre drum (see timbre) + -el diminutive suffix
Related formstim·breled, tim·brelled, adjectivetim·brel·ist, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for timbrel

Historical Examples

  • They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

    Short Studies on Great Subjects

    James Anthony Froude

  • Some neglect him entirely; skipping lightly from Timbrel to Timbuctoo.

    Chimney-Pot Papers

    Charles S. Brooks

  • It is his own daughter, his only child, going out to meet him with the timbrel and with dances.

    Oriental Women

    Edward Bagby Pollard

  • Here are the trumpets, the harp, the psaltery, and the timbrel.

  • Tympanum is used for a timbrel or drum, tympanidia a diminutive of it.

    Cicero's Tusculan Disputations

    Marcus Tullius Cicero

British Dictionary definitions for timbrel

timbrel

noun
  1. mainly Bible another word for tambourine
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Word Origin

C16: from Old French; see timbre
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

Word Origin and History for timbrel

n.

"percussive Middle Eastern instrument," c.1500, diminutive of timbre (q.v.) in its older French sense of "drum." Used in Bible translations, chiefly to render Hebrew toph, cognate with Arabic duff "drum," of imitative origin.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper