timber

[tim-ber]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR timber ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the wood of growing trees suitable for structural uses.

growing trees themselves.

wooded land.

wood, especially when suitable or adapted for various building purposes.

a single piece of wood forming part of a structure or the like: A timber fell from the roof.

Nautical. (in a ship's frame) one of the curved pieces of wood that spring upward and outward from the keel; rib.

personal character or quality: He's being talked up as presidential timber.

Sports. a wooden hurdle, as a gate or fence, over which a horse must jump in equestrian sports.

verb (used with object)

to furnish with timber.

to support with timber.

verb (used without object)

to fell timber, especially as an occupation.

interjection

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. 2019

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

“The Americans were a tool, used by the Safis in the Pech to rid them of their competition in the timber trade,” Zalwar Khan said.
Heart of Darkness: Into Afghanistan’s Taliban Valley
Matt Trevithick, Daniel Seckman
November 15, 2014
Despite the trade officially being banned, he explains, timber was still locally harvested and sold.
Heart of Darkness: Into Afghanistan’s Taliban Valley
Matt Trevithick, Daniel Seckman
November 15, 2014
Though the company imports its wood from a timber supplier, they cut and process it.
Brooklyn’s Booming Firewood Industry
Dale Eisinger
July 8, 2014
One outfitter found a camp in timber—a Nichols camp, with a fresh three-rock campfire.
The Ballad of Johnny France
Richard Ben Cramer
January 12, 2014
They took off through the timber, and so began a five-month hunt for two men in the wilds of America.
The Ballad of Johnny France
Richard Ben Cramer
January 12, 2014

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
This process was continued through the whole length of the timber.
Cleveland Past and Present
Maurice Joblin
The first timber was drawn by a rope, and floated to its place.
Cleveland Past and Present
Maurice Joblin
The timber growth—none at all or very scanty spruce and tamarack.
The Long Labrador Trail
Dillon Wallace

British Dictionary definitions for timber

timber

noun

wood, esp when regarded as a construction materialUsual US and Canadian word: lumber
(as modifier)a timber cottage

trees collectively
mainly USwoodland

a piece of wood used in a structure

nautical a frame in a wooden vessel

potential material, for a post, rank, etche is managerial timber

verb

(tr) to provide with timbers

interjection

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

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).