Free TranslationFree Translation
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Tympanum   Listen
noun
Tympanum  n.  (pl. E. tympanums, L. tympana)  
1.
(Anat.)
(a)
The ear drum, or middle ear. Sometimes applied incorrectly to the tympanic membrane. See Ear.
(b)
A chamber in the anterior part of the syrinx of birds.
2.
(Zool.) One of the naked, inflatable air sacs on the neck of the prairie chicken and other species of grouse.
3.
(Arch.)
(a)
The recessed face of a pediment within the frame made by the upper and lower cornices, being usually a triangular space or table.
(b)
The space within an arch, and above a lintel or a subordinate arch, spanning the opening below the arch.
4.
(Mech.) A drum-shaped wheel with spirally curved partitions by which water is raised to the axis when the wheel revolves with the lower part of the circumference submerged, used for raising water, as for irrigation.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |





"Tympanum" Quotes from Famous Books



... swart-skinned Nubian's reed-pipe hath an ear-piercing note, And you may hear mad music from 'ARRY in a boat; But safest of all sounds to give the tympanum a twist, Is the tow-row, tow-row, tow-row of the ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 99, July 12, 1890 • Various

... tympani, or ear drum, covered with skin, appears as a flat disc from 5 to 10 mm. in diameter on the side of the head just back of the eye and a little below it. In the middle ear there is but one bone, the columella, forming the connecting link between the tympanum and the internal ear. The inner ear, which contains the sense organs, consists of a membranous bag, the chief parts of which are the utriculus, the sacculus, the lagena, and the three semicircular canals. The cavity of this membranous labyrinth is filled with a fluid, the endolymph; and within ...
— Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1 • Various

... the inner door. They are, however, often richly ornamented and have rooms above, which rooms are wrongly called "parvises." The shallow aperture often follows the form of the arch, but is frequently square-headed, having a semi-circular tympanum of masonry filling the space between the lintel of the door and ...
— Our Homeland Churches and How to Study Them • Sidney Heath

... next Monday, the inscriptions on the tombs of the Pharaohs, the language of flowers, the "step lively" of the conductor, and the prelude of the milk cans at 4 A. M. Certain large-eared ones even assert that they are wise to the vibrations of the tympanum produced by concussion of the air emanating from Mr. H. James. But who can comprehend the meaning of the voice of ...
— The Voice of the City • O. Henry

... usually limited in depth to the thickness of the front wall. The Gothic builders secured increased depth by projecting the portals out beyond the wall, and crowned them with elaborate gables. The vast central door was divided in two by a pier adorned with a niche and statue. Over this the tympanum of the arch was carved with scriptural reliefs; the jambs and arches were profusely adorned with figures of saints, apostles, martyrs, and angels, under elaborate canopies. The porches of Laon, Bourges, Amiens, and Reims are especially deep and majestic in effect, the last-named (built ...
— A Text-Book of the History of Architecture - Seventh Edition, revised • Alfred D. F. Hamlin

... bathed in air on both sides—the open air on the external side and the air of the air-tube, or trachea, on the inside. Lubbock calls attention to the fact that "the trachea acts like the Eustachian tube in our own ear; it maintains an equilibrium of pressure on each side of the tympanum, and enables it freely ...
— The Dawn of Reason - or, Mental Traits in the Lower Animals • James Weir

... American take unlimited advantage, rendering the journey one continued slamming of doors, which, if the homoeopathic principle be correct, would prove an infallible cure for headache, could the sound only be triturated, and passed through the finest sieve, so as to reach the tympanum in infinitesimal doses. But, alas! it is administered wholesale, and with such power, that almost before the ear catches the sound, it is vibrating in the tendon Achilles. It is said by some, that salmon get accustomed to crimping; and I suppose that, in like manner, ...
— Lands of the Slave and the Free - Cuba, The United States, and Canada • Henry A. Murray

... tower and the chapels were added in the 15th century by Nicolas Rolin, chancellor of Burgundy, born at Autun. The chief artistic features of the church are the group of the Last Judgment sculptured on the tympanum above the west door, and the painting by Ingres representing the martyrdom of St Symphorien, which took place at Autun in 179. In the cathedral square stands the fountain of St Lazare, a work of the Renaissance. The hotel Rolin, a house of the 15th century, contains the ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 - "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon" • Various



Words linked to "Tympanum" :   eardrum, membrane, kettle, tympanist, Eustachian tube, ossiculum, middle ear, timpani, umbo, auditory tube, bonelet, percussion instrument, percussive instrument, tympani, timpanist, hammer, ossicle, cavity, tympanic cavity, kettledrum, tissue layer



Copyright © 2024 e-Free Translation.com