Timbrel. (Hebrew, toph). In old English, tabor was used for any drum. Tabouret and tambourine are diminutives of tabor, and denote the instrument, now known as the tambourine. Tabret is a contraction of tabouret. The Hebrew, toph is, undoubtedly, the instrument described by travellers as the duff or diff of the Arabs. It was played principally by women, Exodus 15:20; Judges 11:34; 1 Samuel 18:6; Psalms 68:25, as an accompaniment to the song and dance. The diff of the Arabs is described, by Russell, as "a hoop, (sometimes with pieces of brass fixed in it, to make a jingling), over which a piece of parchment is stretched. It is beaten with the fingers, and is the true tympanum of the ancients." In Barbary, it is called tar.