ta bor, tabour

[O. Fr. tabour (Fr. tam bour), from Sp. tambor, atambor, from Arab. tam búra kind of lute, a guitar with a long neck and six bra strings; also a drum; Pers. tumbuk a trumpet, a bag pipe; tambal =a small drum; tabira drum; Ital. tam buro.] Music : A small shallow drum used to accompany the pipe and beaten by the fingers. The old English tabor was hung round the neck, and beaten with a stick held in the right hand, while the left hand was occupied in fingering a pipe. The pipe and tabor were the ordinary accompaniment of the morris-dance. The illustration is taken from the celebrated ancient window in the mansion of Geo. Tollet, Esq.. Batley, Staff ords hire. (See Hone's Year Book , July 17.) Tabor and Tabor stick. "Dost thou live by thy tabor?"-Shakesp.: Twelfth Night , iii. 1. tā-bor, *tā-bõur, v. i. & t. [TABOR, 8.] A. Intransitive: 1. To play upon the tabor. 2. To strike lightly and frequently. "And her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabouring upon their breasts."- Nahum ii. 7. B. Trans.: To sound by beating a tabor; to play on a tabor. "For in your court is many a losengeour That tabouren in your eares many a soun." Chaucer: Legend of Good Women . (Prol.)