tambour

A tambour can mean a few different things. It is often a small drum. In embroidery, it can mean either the round frame that keeps cloth tight or the chain-stitch method done with a small hook. You may also see a tambour in furniture: the sliding slatted cover on a roll-top desk or cabinet is a tambour door. In architecture, a tambour is the round or many-sided wall that supports a dome.

The word tambour comes from French and is linked to the idea of a drum, which helps explain several of its meanings. In the most direct sense, a tambour is a small drum. In older writing, it can also refer to a drummer, though that use is less common today.

The word is also important in embroidery. A tambour can be the round frame that holds the fabric tight like a drumhead. By extension, it can also refer to tambour work, a style of chain-stitch embroidery made with a small hooked needle. This use was especially well known in fine decorative sewing.

In furniture, a tambour is a flexible sliding shutter made of narrow slats attached to a backing. This is the part that rolls or slides away on a roll-top desk, and the same idea appears on some cabinets and storage units. In architecture, a tambour is the circular or polygonal wall or base that supports a dome. So the word moves from music to needlework to furniture and building design, but the link is usually the same: a drum-like shape, a tight stretched surface, or a curved enclosing form.