tambourine

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A percussion instrument consisting of a small drumhead with jingling disks fitted into the rim, usually played by shaking and striking with the hand.
• noun A similar instrument without a drumhead.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A parchment-covered racket, resembling a battledore, with which the ball is thrown in the game of tamburello (which see).
• noun A small drum formed of a ring or hoop of wood or sometimes of metal, over which is stretched a single head of parchment.
• noun A long narrow drum or tabor used in Provence; also, a bottle-shaped drum used in Egypt.
• noun A Provençal dance originally executed to the sound of tabor and pipe, with or without singing.
• noun Music for such a dance, in duple rhythm and quick tempo, and usually accompanied by a drone bass of a single tone, as the tonic or the dominant, as if played by rubbing the finger across a tambourine.
• noun A remarkable pigeon of Africa, Tympanistria bicolor. See cut under Tympanistria.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A small drum, especially a shallow drum with only one skin, played on with the hand, and having bells at the sides; a timbrel.
• noun A South American wild dove (Tympanistria tympanistria), mostly white, with black-tiped wings and tail. Its resonant note is said to be ventriloquous.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A percussion instrument consisting of a small, usually wooden, hoop closed on one side with a drum frame and featuring jingling metal disks on the tread; it is usually held in the hand and shaken rhythmically.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a shallow drum with a single drumhead and with metallic disks in the sides