Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun 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.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A timbrel or drum.
- noun An ancient Irish musical instrument, the exact nature of which is disputed. Probably it had strings, and was played with a bow, thus resembling the crowd.
- noun A stretched membrane, or a tense sheet of some thin material, as that of a drumhead.
- noun In a printing-press having a platen, a framed appliance interposed between the platen and the sheet to be printed, for softening and equalizing the pressure, by means of blankets between its two parts; the outer and the inner tympan.
- noun In anatomy, a tympanum.
- noun In architecture, a tympanum.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A drum.
- noun (Arch.) A panel; a tympanum.
- noun (Print.) A frame covered with parchment or cloth, on which the blank sheets are put, in order to be laid on the form to be impressed.
- noun (Print.) a sheet of paper of the same size as that to be printed, pasted on the tympan, and serving as a guide in laying the sheets evenly for printing.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a piece of
cloth padding placed under theplaten of aletterpress todistribute thepressure on thesheet beingprinted - noun music the
stretched membrane of adrum ; apercussion instrument consisting of a hollowcylinder with such a membrane at each end - noun architecture a
tympanum
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a musical percussion instrument; usually consists of a hollow cylinder with a membrane stretched across each end
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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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!
HUFFPOST HILL - Tax Cut Deal Advances In Senate Eliot Nelson 2010
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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!
HUFFPOST HILL - Tax Cut Deal Advances In Senate The Huffington Post News Team 2010
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Speaking of the tympan [in earlier versions, a "harp all songless"] that he has found:
The Annotated "Ripple" Robert Hunter 2005
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The "thing" presented here is an unadorned image of Hone's printing press, an iron Stanhope with the tympan raised to the right.
Notes and Commentary 1998
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When the sheets of paper had been placed upon the tympan frame, the frisket was folded down upon it, and the two were then turned down over the form of type.
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This enabled the printing of larger forms and the use of a thinner and harder "packing," or "tympan," between the platen and the sheet of paper to be printed, resulting in a sharper and clearer impression.
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A sheet of paper is now laid upon the plate, the tympan is lowered, and the scraper adjusted with due pressure; a revolution of the wheel completes the printing, the well-known scraping action of the lithographic press being used in the operation.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 362, December 9, 1882 Various
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After the impression had been taken, the platen was screwed up, the bed "run out," the tympan frame and frisket lifted, and the printed sheet taken off.
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This form of the apparatus is more suitable for inclosure in a wall box with or without a mouthpiece, but it does not require the employment of any kind of diaphragm or tympan.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 447, July 26, 1884 Various
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Attached to the upper end of the inner frame by hinges was a thin and narrow frame, called the "frisket," of the same length and width as the inner tympan frame.
chained_bear commented on the word tympan
In printing, a skin-covered wooden frame that served as a guide for positioning a sheet of paper on the press.
February 2, 2007