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definitions

timber

[tim-ber]
See more synonyms for timber on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the wood of growing trees suitable for structural uses.
  2. growing trees themselves.
  3. wooded land.
  4. wood, especially when suitable or adapted for various building purposes.
  5. a single piece of wood forming part of a structure or the like: A timber fell from the roof.
  6. Nautical. (in a ship's frame) one of the curved pieces of wood that spring upward and outward from the keel; rib.
  7. personal character or quality: He's being talked up as presidential timber.
  8. Sports. a wooden hurdle, as a gate or fence, over which a horse must jump in equestrian sports.
verb (used with object)
  1. to furnish with timber.
  2. to support with timber.
verb (used without object)
  1. to fell timber, especially as an occupation.
interjection
  1. a lumberjack's call to warn those in the vicinity that a cut tree is about to fall to the ground.

Origin of timber

before 900; Middle English, Old English: orig., house, building material; cognate with German Zimmer room, Old Norse timbr timber; akin to Gothic timrjan, Greek démein to build. See dome
Related formstim·ber·less, adjectivetim·ber·y, adjective
Can be confusedtimber timbre
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for timber

forest, log, hardwood, girder, rafter, balk, club, grove, stake, woodland, beam, pole, woods, board, frame, boom, rib, plank, mast, weald

Examples from the Web for timber

Contemporary Examples of timber

Historical Examples of timber

  • Me and Lawyer Fillmore has been a-lookin' into them deeds, and this timber is mine;' and he driv off.

    The Underdog

    F. Hopkinson Smith

  • She always seemed natural to me; and I had got to know every timber and stick about her.

    Ned Myers

    James Fenimore Cooper

  • The first timber was drawn by a rope, and floated to its place.

  • This process was continued through the whole length of the timber.

  • The timber growth—­none at all or very scanty spruce and tamarack.

British Dictionary definitions for timber

timber

noun
    1. wood, esp when regarded as a construction materialUsual US and Canadian word: lumber
    2. (as modifier)a timber cottage
    1. trees collectively
    2. mainly USwoodland
  3. a piece of wood used in a structure
  4. nautical a frame in a wooden vessel
  5. potential material, for a post, rank, etche is managerial timber
verb
  1. (tr) to provide with timbers
interjection
  1. a lumberjack's shouted warning when a tree is about to fall

Word Origin for timber

Old English; related to Old High German zimbar wood, Old Norse timbr timber, Latin domus house
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for timber
n.

Old English timber "building, structure," later "building material, trees suitable for building," and "wood in general," from Proto-Germanic *temran (cf. Old Frisian timber "wood, building," Old High German zimbar "timber, wooden dwelling, room," Old Norse timbr "timber," German Zimmer "room"), from PIE *demrom-, from root *dem-/*dom- "build" (source of Greek domos, Latin domus; see domestic (adj.)).

The related Old English verb timbran, timbrian was the chief word for "to build" (cf. Dutch timmeren, German zimmern). As a call of warning when a cut tree is about to fall, it is attested from 1912 in Canadian English. Timbers in the nautical slang sense (see shiver (n.)) is from the specialized meaning "pieces of wood composing the frames of a ship's hull" (1748).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper