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Tympanum

//ˈtɪm.pən.əm// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A drum. archaic
  2. 2
    a large hemispherical brass or copper percussion instrument with a drumhead that can be tuned by adjusting the tension on it wordnet
  3. 3
    Any of various anatomic structures in various animals with analogy to a drum head:; The eardrum (tympanic membrane, membrana tympanica).

    "When he came around, the star sound was gone. The ringing it left in his tympana was a great confusion."

  4. 4
    the membrane in the ear that vibrates to sound wordnet
  5. 5
    Any of various anatomic structures in various animals with analogy to a drum head:; The main portion of the middle ear: the tympanic cavity (cavitas tympani).
Show 7 more definitions
  1. 6
    the main cavity of the ear; between the eardrum and the inner ear wordnet
  2. 7
    Any of various anatomic structures in various animals with analogy to a drum head:; A thin tense membrane covering the hearing organ on the leg or body of some insects, sometimes adapted (as in cicadas) for producing sound.
  3. 8
    Any of various anatomic structures in various animals with analogy to a drum head:; A membranous resonator in a sound-producing organ in frogs and toads.
  4. 9
    Any of various anatomic structures in various animals with analogy to a drum head:; (in certain birds) The labyrinth at the bottom of the windpipe.
  5. 10
    A vertical recessed triangular space between the sides of a pediment, typically decorated.
  6. 11
    A vertical recessed triangular space between the sides of a pediment, typically decorated.; The recessed triangular space within an arch, and above a lintel or a subordinate arch, spanning the opening below the arch.

    "It was a black-and-white picture of a Romanesque doorway, with flanking saints and a lively Last Judgement in the tympanum […]."

  7. 12
    A drum-shaped wheel with spirally curved partitions by which water is raised to the axis when the wheel revolves with the lower part of the circumference submerged; used for raising water, as for irrigation.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tympanum (“a drum, timbrel, tambourine; the eardrum”). Doublet of timbre, timpani, timbal, and tymbal.

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