▪ I. tambour, n.
(ˈtæmbʊə(r), -bə(r))
[a. F. tambour drum: see tabor.]
1. a. A drum; spec. the great or bass drum.
| 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop (1889) 95 Of his skynne he dyd doo make tambours, whiche ben euer bete. 1706 Phillips (ed. 6), Tambour, a Drum, an Instrument of Martial Musick. 1745 Pococke Descr. East II. i. xvi. 156 One of them played on a tambour, and sung a Curdeen song. 1810 Southey Kehama i. xiv, And still with overwhelming din The tambours and the trumpets sound. 1812 ― Lett. (1856) II. 307 A tambour is an outlandish drum, not such as soldiers use. 1879 Stainer Music of Bible 140 As they [cymbals] became reduced in size it was found possible to insert several pairs under the rim of the tambour. |
‖ b. tambour de basque (also 7
tamber de base,
tamberbase, 9
tamborbasque) [F.
tambour de basque,
† de Biscaye], a tambourine.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. xvi. (Roxb.) 85/1 He beareth sable, a Tamber de Base, or Tamber-base, Or... This is a kind of Instrument, vsed among the auncient Jews, and now by the Turkes. 1780 Beckford Italy (1834) I. iv. 34 Tambours de basque at every corner. 1840 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XXI. 72/2 Tambour de Basque, a well-known kind of small drum, commonly called a tambourine. It is much used among the Biscayans. |
2. An instrument for recording pulsations, as in respiration: see
quots.| 1877 Foster Phys. i. iv. §2 Each bag communicates by a separate air-tight tube with an air-tight tambour on which a lever rests; so that any pressure on either bag is communicated to the cavity of its respective tambour, the lever of which is raised in proportion. Ibid. ii. ii. §1 The movements of the column of air in the trachea are transmitted to the tambour, the consequent expansions and contractions of which are transmitted by means of a lever resting on it to the recording drum. 1890 Billings Nat. Med. Dict., Tambour, drum; used to collect and transmit movements in graphic registering apparatus. |
3. (Also
tambor.) A fish which makes a drumming noise, or which resembles a drum in form; as a fish of the genus
Pogonias, a drum-fish; a globe-fish, swell-fish, or puffer; also the red rock-fish,
Sebastodes ruber, of the coast of California.
| [1683–4 Robinson in Phil. Trans. XXIX. 480 Many Tamburo's or Drum-Fishes.] 1854 Bushnan in Orr's Circ. Sc. I. Org. Nat. 151 The pogonias, on account of the sounds which it produces, has been named the tambour. 1891 Cent. Dict., Tambor. |
4. a. A circular frame formed of one hoop fitting within another, in which silk, muslin, or other material is stretched for embroidering.
Cf. tambouring-machine.
| 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scand. ii. i, When I saw you first sitting at your tambour, in a pretty figured linen gown. 1781 F. Burney Diary Mar., Portraits of the three beautiful Lady Waldegraves,..at work with the tambour. 1818 Todd, Tambou'r. 1841 Borrow Zincali I. viii. §i. 131 Intertwining with their sharp needles the gold and silk on the tambour. |
b. A species of embroidery in which patterns are worked with a needle of peculiar form on material stretched in a tambour-frame; now superseded by pattern-weaving; in recent use
= tambour-lace: see 8.
| 1813 App. to Chron. in Ann. Reg. 252/1 A bounty upon the exportation of stuffs, of silk ornamented with embroidery, tambour, needle work, lace or fringe. 1859 Green Oxf. Stud. ii. §7 (O.H.S.) 94 A French master of tambour and similar accomplishments. 1883 Standard 26 June 3/3 The..Limerick production is of four kinds: Tambour, the simplest and commonest. 1898 Cent. Mag. Jan. 365/1 My sisters and I covered it [the frock] with embroidered buds and roses, done in tambour. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 25 Apr. 13/2 Then there is the imitation of old Tambour. |
c. A kind of fine gold or silver thread.
| 1848 [see passing vbl. n. 3]. 1899 W. G. P. Tounsend Embroidery v. 82 Gold and Silver Passing and Tambour.—Fine kind of threads. Ibid. vi. 106 How tambour gold is used over cardboard. 1901 Day & Buckle Needlework xxix. (ed. 2) 245 For stitching through, there is a finer [gold] thread, called ‘tambour’. |
5. Arch. a. The core of a Corinthian or Composite capital.
b. Any one of the courses forming the shaft of a cylindrical column.
c. The wall of a circular building surrounded with columns.
d. A round exterior building surrounding the base of a dome or cupola; also the circular vertical part of a cupola.
e. A lobby or vestibule enclosed with folding doors and ceiling, as within the porch of a church, to prevent the direct passage of air, etc.
f. A projecting part of the wall of a tennis court: see
quot. 1816.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. 6), Tambour... In Architecture, the Vase or Ornament in the Chapiter of Pillars of the Corinthian Order: Also the Name of part of a Tennis-Court. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Tambour, in architecture,..applied to the Corinthian and Composite capitals, as bearing some resemblance to a drum... Tambour is also used for a little box of timber-work, covered with a cieling, withinside the porch of certain churches... Tambour also denotes a round course of stone, several whereof form the shaft of a column, not so high as a diameter. 1816 Encycl. Perth. XXII. 220/2 On the right hand side of the [tennis] court from the dedans is the tambour, a part of the wall which projects, and is so contrived in order to make a variety in the stroke. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. Gloss., Tambour,..also the wall of a circular temple, surrounded with columns. 1838 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 338/2 An iron clamp was fastened on the shoulder of the capital, and another on the lowest tambour of the column. 1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 73/1 If the dome [of the Pantheon] had sprung immediately from the upper cornice, so as to present a perfect hemisphere on the outside, the rotunda itself would have looked merely as a tambour to it. 1864 Athenæum 27 Feb. 304/2 Above the roofs will rise (in the centre) a bold tambour pierced with windows and inclosing the lower portion of the dome. |
6. Mil. A small defensive work formed of palisades or earth, usually in the form of a redan, to defend an entrance or passage.
| 1834 J. S. Macaulay Field Fortif. 91 These small redoubts or tambours, though weak in themselves, are of use when nothing better can be done. Ibid. 140 Tambours are constructed with timbers 10 feet long, and about 6 inches square, which are planted touching each other, and sunk 3 feet into the earth. 1853 Stocqueler Milit. Encycl., Tambour,..a work formed..so that, when finished, it may have the appearance of a square redoubt cut in two... Tambours are also solid pieces of earth which are made in that part of the covert-way that is joined to the parapet. 1895 Chapters in Adventurous Life 340 There was a chapel of St. George some little distance inland of this point, around which a tambour of loose stones had been raised. |
7. A sliding, flexible shutter or door on a piece of furniture, made by sticking narrow strips of wood to a backing of canvas.
| 1940 Chambers' Techn. Dict. 833/1 Tambour (Furn.), a panel of slat-work or pleated textile material. 1952 J. Gloag Short Dict. Furnit. 469 The tambour is used for desk tops and occasionally for doors. 1970 D. Ash Dict. Eng. Antique Furnit. 147/1 Tambours were introduced from France where they had been in use since about 1750, and were chiefly popular in England in the last quarter of the 18th century. |
8. attrib. and
Comb., as (in sense 1)
tambour-peal; (in sense 4)
tambour-cotton,
tambour-embroidery,
tambour-school,
tambour-sprig,
tambour-waistcoat,
tambour-work,
tambour-worker; (in sense 7)
tambour construction,
tambour cupboard,
tambour desk,
tambour door,
tambour front,
tambour shutter,
tambour slide,
tambour top,
tambour writing-table;
tambour-fronted adj.; also
tambour-frame = sense 4;
tambour hook = tambour needle;
tambour-lace, a modern lace resembling tambour (4 b), consisting of needlework designs on machine-made net;
tambour-needle, the needle used in tambour-work, a small steel hook set in a handle;
tambour-stitch, the loop-stitch used in tambour-work; also a stitch used in crochet, by which a pattern of ridges intersecting at right angles is produced; so
tambour-stitcher.
| 1934 Burlington Mag. Sept. 213/2 The origin of the *tambour construction of doors, roll-tops, etc., which appeared in Europe about the middle of the eighteenth century; the bamboo sticks were split and the halves fastened on a piece of strong canvas, the whole being fitted into grooves. |
| 1918 Heal & Son Catal.: Cottage Furnit. 26 Mahogany Inlaid Sideboard, bow front with *tambour cupboard in centre. |
| 1797 Prices Cabinet Work 57 A *Tambour Desk, Three feet long, four long drawers in front. |
| 1803 T. Sheraton Cabinet Dict. 316 *Tambour doors are often introduced, in small pieces of work, where no great strength or security is requisite, as in night tables, and pot cupboards. 1973 ‘K. Royce’ Spider Underground ix. 139 The room was a library with an incongruous television set in one corner... Tambour doors were pulled across the ugly eye of the screen. |
| 1781 in H. M. Brooks Olden Time Series (1886) IV. 52 Isaac Greenwood..makes Flutes,..Tea-Boards, Bottle-Stands, *Tamboy [sic] Frames. 1782 J. Byng Jrnl. 24 Aug. in Torrington Diaries (1934) I. 74 The long gallery is furnish'd with modern frippery, as tambour frames, &c. 1798 Tambour-frame [see tambour-needle]. 1803 M. Edgeworth Emilie de Coulanges (1832) 157 She would rather see Emilie guillotined at once, than condemned..to work like a galley-slave at her tambour-frame for her bread. 1884 Bookseller 6 Nov. 1190/1 She..added to their slender earnings by her skill at the tambour frame. |
| 1952 J. Gloag Short. Dict. Furnit. 469 A *tambour front is shown on the Harlequin Table illustrated on page 283. 1979 Country Life 30 Aug. 589/1 The compartment below, tambour-fronted, contains two drawers. |
| 1880 L. Higgin Handbk. Embroidery v. 52 Irish or Limerick lace..is made on net in the old tambour frames, and with a *tambour or crochet hook. |
| 1899 Westm. Gaz. 28 Dec. 3/2, I would recommend the charming and inexpensive *Tambour lace for this design. |
| 1798 Edgeworth Pract. Educ. (1811) I. 103 A lady who is learning to work with a *tambour needle puts her head down close to the tambour frame. 1863 Janet Hamilton Poems & Ess. 196 The daughter plied the tambour-needles. |
| 1823 Mrs. Hemans Siege Valencia v, The Moor is on his way! With the *tambour-peal and the tecbir-shout. |
| 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 382 At Callander the weaving of cotton goods and a *tambour-school have been lately introduced. |
| 1962 V. & A. Mus. Internat. Art Treasures Exhib. 18/2 A George III satinwood secretaire bookcase banded with tulip and kingwood..in the centre a writing desk enclosed by a *tambour shutter. 1973 Country Life 11 Jan. 91/3 Early-19th-century satinwood bedside cupboard..[with] tambour shutters. |
| 1975 Ibid. 9 Oct. (Suppl.) 42/1 Sheraton Period Mahogany Work Table... The top section..is fitted with..two *Tambour slides. |
| 1779 Sheridan Critic i. i, Tropes and flowers suit the general coarseness of your style, as *tambour sprigs would a ground of linsey woolsey. |
| c 1840 Lady Wilton Art of Needlework xx. 317 There are *tambour-stitch, satin—chain—and queen-stitches. 1953 M. Powys Lace & Lace-Making xi. 179 The outline may be made with tambour or chain stitch. |
| 1883 Art Jrnl. 150/2 Done by Turkish workers, and Chinese and Indian *tambour-stitchers. |
| 1797 Prices Cabinet Work 57 A Library Writing Table with *Tambour Top. 1944 G. Heyer Friday's Child vi. 68 They laid the foundations of their future home by purchasing..a tambour-top writing-table, a crystal lustre, and a shaving-stand. |
| 1778 F. Burney Diary 23 Aug., A *tambour waistcoat, worked in green silk. |
| 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) ii. Sigh xiii, After having consumed three years on a piece of *tambour-work. 1879 Temple Bar Mag. Oct. 218 Her needle went to and fro through her tambour work. |
| 1780 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 201/2 They were *tambour workers. |
| 1794 Cabinet Maker & Upholsterer's Guide (ed. 3) pl. 69 (caption) *Tambour Writing Table and Bookcase. |
▪ II. tambour, v. (
ˈtæmbʊə(r),
tæmˈbʊə(r))
[f. prec. n.] 1. trans. To work or embroider in a tambour-frame; to ornament with tambour-work.
| 1774 Westm. Mag. II. 166 The waistcoats tamboured with coloured silks only, or interspersed with gold and silver. 1840 Mrs. Gaugain Lady's Assist. Knitting, etc. I. 189 Join it up..by tambouring it together about 2½ inches at each side, and draw it up at each end. 1885 Birmingham Daily Post 5 Jan. 6/6 Some [fabrics] are embossed, and some tamboured in gold, or otherwise treated. |
| fig. 1830 Blackw. Mag. XXVII. 171 A coarse..web of words..—tamboured with clusters of fantastic figures. |
2. intr. To work at a tambour-frame; to do tambour-work.
| a 1845 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. iii. Knight & Lady, She sat herring-boning, tambouring, or stitching. 1863 Janet Hamilton Poems, Tambourer, She who tambours, tambours, tambours for fifteen hours a day Would have shoes on her feet and dress for church, had she a third of our pay. |
Hence
tamboured ppl. a., ornamented with tambour-embroidery; worked, as a design, on the tambour-frame.
| 1799 Hull Advertiser 30 Nov. 1/1 Some remarkably elegant..tamboured..muslins. 1830 Scott Demonol. i. 30 This personage, with tamboured waistcoat. 1885 Manch. Exam. 2 Mar. 4/6 Business..in tamboured cloths for Spain is also dull. |