Tȳm'pan, n.

noun

n. [Fr. tympan, Sp. & It. timpano, from Lat. tympanum, a kettle-drum, a panel of a door. See supra.]

A drum. [Obs.]
(Arch.) A panel; a tympanum.
(Print.) A frame covered with parchment or cloth, on which the blank sheets are put, in order to be laid on the form to be impressed. [See Illust. of Printing-press.]