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Definition of "tympan" []

  • Printing A padding, as of paper or cloth, placed over the platen of a press to regulate the pressure on the sheet being printed. (noun)
  • Architecture A tympanum. (noun)
  • A tightly stretched sheet or membrane, as on the head of a 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 "tympan" in a sentence
  • "PARANOID SELF-LOATHING GOP LOBBYIST'S NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA- Pa rum pum pum pum isn't just the beat produced by the Little Drummer Boy's tympan, It's also the pulsing noise in our Paranoid Self Loathing GOP Lobbyist's head that he insists are brain-permeating, voter intimidation gamma rays from ACORN's headquarters!"
  • "Speaking of the tympan [in earlier versions, a "harp all songless"] that he has found:"
  • "The "thing" presented here is an unadorned image of Hone's printing press, an iron Stanhope with the tympan raised to the right."