tambourine

Etymology

From French tambourin (“little drum”), from French tambour (“drum”). Ultimately from Arabic طُنْبُور (ṭunbūr).

noun

1. 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 most often held in the hand and shaken rhythmically; by extension, any frame drum.
2. A tambourine dove.
   Tambourines are shy birds and do not tame easily. 2006, Gayle Soucek, Doves, page 78
3. A kind of Provençal dance.
4. The music for this dance.

verb

1. To play the tambourine.
2. To make a sound like a tambourine.
   Rain tambourined on the stately square. 1995, Henri Cole, The Look of Things, page 23