Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "tambour" [tam•bour]

  • A drum or drummer. (noun)
  • A small wooden embroidery frame consisting of two concentric hoops between which fabric is stretched. (noun)
  • Embroidery made on such a frame. (noun)
  • A rolling front or top for a desk or table, consisting of narrow strips of wood glued to canvas. (noun)
  • Architecture See drum. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "tambour" in a sentence
  • "The name comes from the Persian word, suzan, or needle, and its predominant embroidery technique is chain stitch, done with an instrument called a tambour, which is a hooked needle something along the lines of a sharp crochet hook that pierces fabric and draws embroidery thread from behind through to the design side."
  • "A girl and doves in tambour, a cat and mouse in marking stitch, a small oval imitation in "print-work," as it was called of a painter's etching, a landscape in coloured worsteds from a good drawing, and a"
  • "The loops which are made with a small hook, called a tambour needle, form a fine chain stitch and must be regular and even; to facilitate this a sort of thimble, fig. 842, is worn on the forefinger of the right hand, formed of a small plate of sheet brass, rolled up but not joined, so as to fit any finger; it is open at the top like a tailor's thimble and has a little notch on the side which is placed above the nail, and in which you lay the tambour needle whilst you work."
Words like "tambour"