Tambour
//ˈtæmbʊə(ɹ)// noun, verb
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A small shallow drum. countable, uncountable
- 2 a drum wordnet
- 3 A circular frame for embroidery. countable, uncountable
"Recollect Lady Teazle when I saw you first—sitting at your tambour in a pretty figured linen gown—"
- 4 a frame made of two hoops; used for embroidering wordnet
- 5 A rich kind of gold and silver embroidery. countable, uncountable
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 Silk or other material embroidered on a tambour. countable, uncountable
- 7 The capital of a Corinthian column. countable, uncountable
- 8 Synonym of drum (“cylindrical stone in the shaft of a column”). countable, uncountable
- 9 A work usually in the form of a redan, to enclose a space before a door or staircase, or at the gorge of a larger work. It is arranged like a stockade. countable, uncountable
- 10 A shallow metallic cup or drum, with a thin elastic membrane supporting a writing lever. Two or more of these are connected by a rubber tube and used to transmit and register the movements of the pulse or of any pulsating artery. countable, uncountable
- 11 In real tennis, a buttress-like obstruction in the main wall. countable, uncountable
"One hazard is the tambour, a buttress which juts out and causes the ball to bounce unpredictably."
- 12 A rolling top or front (as of a rolltop desk) of narrow strips of wood glued on canvas. countable, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To embroider on a tambour (circular frame). ambitransitive
Example
More examples"Recollect Lady Teazle when I saw you first—sitting at your tambour in a pretty figured linen gown—"
Etymology
Borrowed from French tambour (“drum”), from Arabic طُنْبُور (ṭunbūr), from the Middle Persian ancestor of Classical Persian تنبور (tanbūr). Doublet of tabor and tanbur. Compare Armenian տաւիղ (tawiġ), and tabla.
Related phrases
More for "tambour"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.