Definition of "tympani" [tympani]

• Variant of timpani. (noun-plural)

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.

• "The three muscles which regulate the tension of these membranes are termed the _tensor tympani, laxator tympani_, and _stapedium tympani."
• "The sound system was spectacular, no distortion, loud without being too loud and you could hear the full range of sound from the flutes way up high to the guy banging away on the tympani, the way music was meant to be heard."
• "Most of the actors play a great variety of drums, from tympani and bass, to African drums thumped with hands and fists."