Definition of "timpani" [timpani]

• A set of kettledrums. (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.

• "(TIM-puh-nee) Italian for kettledrums; the term timpani is often preferred by composers and performers."
• ""It is absolutely hair-raising how Brahms shakes his fist at the heavens and this Olympian, this imperious music would rise over this timpani which is thundering in the background," says Fleisher."
• "I also got to play the timpani, which is these giant round drums. ""