Also 1 timpana, 3–7 timpane, timpan (also 9 in sense 1 b), 4–8 tympane, (6 tymphan, timphan). [ad. L. tympanum, TYMPANUM, or a. OF. tympan, timpan (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.; mod.F. tympan, = Pg. tympano, Sp. and It. timpano, in various senses). Cf. OHG. timpana, OIcel. timpan. In OE. and early ME. only in renderings of Biblical passages.]
1. A drum or similar instrument, as a timbrel or tambourine. arch.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, lxvii. 26. In midle iungra plæʓiendra timpanan.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xlvi. 346. Lofiað God mid tympanan, ond on choro.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xxxi. 27. Mid lofsangum, & mid timpanum, & mid hearpum.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter cxlix. 3. In timpan and sautre to him singe þai. Ibid., cl. 4. Loves him in crouth and timpane.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 7128. As þe bras, And as þe tympan, þat bete was.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 283. Þese ben þe propre signes of tympanites: his wombe & þe regioun of his stomac schulen oonly be to-swolle, & alle his oþere lymes … wolen bicome smal, & if þou smitist him vpon his wombe, it wole soune as it were a tympan.
1413. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), V. viii. 99. Dauyd ordeyned … instrumentes … organs and harpes, Symbals and sawtryes, Kroudes and tympans, Trompettes and tabours.
1503. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., II. 392. Item … ane pair of tympanes to the King xxiiij s.
1606. G. W[oodcocke], Hist. Ivstine, XLI. 128. They vse not to sound a trumpet, but a Timpane.
a. 1682. Sir T. Browne, Tracts, vi. (1684), 122. Bacchus gave the signal of Battel … not with Trumpets but with Tympans and Cymbals.
b. [Ir. tiompan.] An ancient Irish stringed instrument played with a bow.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 355. Men of Irlonde be experte specially in ij. kyndes of musike,… an harpe, and a tympan [L. tympano] stryngede and armede with cordes of brasse.
1862. O’Curry, Anc. Irish, xxxvi. (1873), III. 362. The poem affords another proof that the Timpan was a stringed instrument; and … shows that it was … played on with a wand and hair, words that plainly enough describe a fiddle-bow.
1891. W. B. Yeats, C’tess Cathleen, Poems (1908), III. 9. I thought I heard far off tympans and harps.
† 2. a. = TYMPANITES, TYMPANY 1. Obs. rare.
1530. Palsgr., 281/2. Tympan a dysease in the bely, enfleure.
† b. transf. (See quot.) Obs.
1555. Eden, Decades, 142. The smaulest [pearls] differ from the byggest in a certayne swellynge or impostumation whiche the Spaniardes caule a tympane.
† 3. = TYMPANUM 2. Obs.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Jas. 28. The worde of the Gospell … knocketh in vayne at the tympane of the ears; vnles it light depe in to the inwarde partes of the hearte.
1639. J. S., Clidamas, 24. If what I speake may befit the tender tympane of a Ladyes eare.
1688. Burnet, Lett. Pres. St. Italy, 181. The violent noise … weakened the Tympan of his Ear.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Tympan,… the Drum of the Ear.
4. An appliance in a printing-press, interposed between the platen or impression-cylinder and the sheet to be printed, in order to soften and equalize the pressure; in a hand press consisting of two frames (outer and inner tympan) with sheets of parchment or strong linen stretched upon them, and inclosing a packing either of blanket, rubber, or other soft substance, or sheets of paper, cardboard, cloth, or other harder material, according to the nature of the work to be printed.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong. Le Chassis, the tympane of a Printers presse.
1594. R. Ashley, trans. Loys le Roy, 22. Placing the leafe that is to be printed, on a double tympan or parchmin.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, x. ¶ 10. The Tympan is a square Frame.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Printing, On the front of the Coffin are three Frames…, viz. the two Tympans and Frisket.
1824. J. Johnson, Typogr., II. xv. 529. The tympans are covered with vellum, forrels, or parchment.
1869. W. B., in Eng. Mech., 24 Dec., 362/1. Make a tympan of thick cardboard.
1880. Printing Times, 15 March, 63/1. Too much packing in a tympan is a great and common fault.
1885. C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Receipts, Ser. IV. 404/1. A sheet of smooth card … should be laid over the picture before the leather tympan is closed down upon it.
5. Arch. = TYMPANUM 3.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. Tympan of an Arch, is a triangular Table placed in its Corners. Ibid., Tympan, is also attributed to the Pannels of Doors … and to the Dye or Square of Pedestals.
1767. Ducarel, Anglo-Norman Antiq., 83. Within the Tympan or panel of the pediment is a basso relievo.
1825. Jamieson, Timpan, tympany, the middle part of the front of a house, raised above the level of the rest of the wall, resembling a gable…. This is also called a Tympany gavel.
1893. E. H. Barker, Wand. Southern Waters, 89. The composition, which fills the tympan of the scarcely-pointed arch, represents Christ surrounded by the twelve Apostles.
6. = TYMPANUM 4 b.
1858. Lardner, Hand-bk. Nat. Phil., Hydrost., etc., 123. The tympan.—A form of wheel, which has received this name, is also used in France for irrigation.
7. A tense membrane or thin plate in any mechanical apparatus, e.g., in a phonograph.
1883. Greer, Dict. Electr., 170. This [carbon] lozenge is pressed gently by a tympan.
1900. Daily News, 17 Nov., 6/3. The vibrating plate or tympan had not force enough to imprint the feeble sounds on the wax of the cylinder, and form a good record. Ibid. This varying current in passing through the telephone … makes the iron plate or tympan vibrate and give out … a fairly correct imitation of the speaker’s voice.
8. attrib. (in sense 4), as tympan-cloth, -frame; tympan-sheet, a sheet of paper, etc., laid on or fixed in the tympan, originally as a guide for placing the sheets to be printed.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xxiv. ¶ 7. He takes a Sheet of Paper … for a Tympan-sheet. Ibid., ¶ 19. This Tympan-cloath is a Fine and even Linnen Cloath.
1771. Luckombe, Hist. Print., 345. The Tympan sheet … is only as a standing mark to lay all the other sheets exactly even upon.
1841. T. C. Hansard, Print. & Type-founding, 109. They now choose their points, which are thin iron arms, having a short point projecting from the end, and made to screw on to the tympan-frame.
1911. Webster, s.v., In hand presses the tympan is double and consists of two sheets, usually of parchment, stretched on the tympan frame.
Hence † Tympaned a. (obs. nonce-wd.), affected as with a ‘tympan’ (sense 2); inflated, puffed up; Tympaning (tim-) vbl. sb. (nonce-wd.), the playing of a tympan (sense 1 b).
a. 1640. Day, Peregr. Schol. (1681), 56. Philosophos … swolne and timpaned with presumption.
1862. O’Curry, Anc. Irish, xxxvi. (1873), III. 363. The harper has exclusive harping…. The Timpanist has exclusive timpaning (or Timpan playing).
