Timber

• POS: Interjection, Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: tim=ber

CIDE DICTIONARY

Timber, n. [Probably the same word as timber sort of wood; cf. Sw. timber, LG. timmer, MHG. zimber, G. zimmer, F. timbre, LL. timbrium. Cf. Timmer.].

 A certain quantity of fur skins, as of martens, ermines, sables, etc., packed between boards; being in some cases forty skins, in others one hundred and twenty; -- called also timmer.  [1913 Webster]

Timber, n. [F. timbre. See Timbre.].

 The crest on a coat of arms.  [1913 Webster]

Timber, v. t. 

 To surmount as a timber does.  [1913 Webster]

Timber, n. [AS. timbor, timber, wood, building; akin to OFries. timber, D. timmer a room, G. zimmer, OHG. zimbar timber, a dwelling, room, Icel. timbr timber, Sw. timmer, Dan. tömmer, Goth. timrjan to build, timrja a builder, L. domus a house, Gr. house, to build, Skr. dama a house. √62. Cf. Dome, Domestic.].

•  That sort of wood which is proper for buildings or for tools, utensils, furniture, carriages, fences, ships, and the like; -- usually said of felled trees, but sometimes of those standing. Cf. Lumber, 3.  [1913 Webster]

  "And ta'en my fiddle to the gate, . . .
  And fiddled in the timber!"  [1913 Webster]
•  The body, stem, or trunk of a tree.  [1913 Webster]
•  Fig.: Material for any structure.  [1913 Webster]

  "Such dispositions are the very errors of human nature; and yet they are the fittest timber to make politics of."  [1913 Webster]
•  A single piece or squared stick of wood intended for building, or already framed; collectively, the larger pieces or sticks of wood, forming the framework of a house, ship, or other structure, in distinction from the covering or boarding.  [1913 Webster]

  "So they prepared timber . . . to build the house."  [1913 Webster]

  "Many of the timbers were decayed."  [1913 Webster]
•  Woods or forest; wooden land.  [1913 Webster]
•  A rib, or a curving piece of wood, branching outward from the keel and bending upward in a vertical direction. One timber is composed of several pieces united.  [1913 Webster]

Timber and room. (Shipbuilding) Same as Room and space. See under Room. -- Timber beetle (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of beetles the larvæ of which bore in timber; as, the silky timber beetle (Lymexylon sericeum). -- Timber doodle (Zoöl.), the American woodcock. [Local, U. S.] -- Timber grouse (Zoöl.), any species of grouse that inhabits woods, as the ruffed grouse and spruce partridge; -- distinguished from prairie grouse. -- Timber hitch (Naut.), a kind of hitch used for temporarily marking fast a rope to a spar. See Illust. under Hitch. -- Timber mare, a kind of instrument upon which soldiers were formerly compelled to ride for punishment. Johnson. -- Timber scribe, a metal tool or pointed instrument for marking timber. Simmonds. -- Timber sow. (Zoöl.) Same as Timber worm, below. Bacon. -- Timber tree, a tree suitable for timber. -- Timber worm (Zoöl.), any larval insect which burrows in timber. -- Timber yard, a yard or place where timber is deposited.

Timber, v. t. 

 To furnish with timber; -- chiefly used in the past participle.  [1913 Webster]
"His bark is stoutly timbered."  [1913 Webster]

Timber, v. i. 

•  To light on a tree.  [1913 Webster]
•  To make a nest.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Timber, n.
1 wood prepared for building, carpentry, etc.
2 a piece of wood or beam, esp. as the rib of a vessel.
3 large standing trees suitable for timber; woods or forest.
4 (esp. as int.) a warning cry that a tree is about to fall.

Idiom

timber hitch a knot used in attaching a rope to a log or spar. timber wolf a type of large N. American grey wolf.

Derivative

timbering n.

Etymology

OE, = building, f. Gmc

THESAURUS

Timber

afforestation, arboretum, balk, bare pole, beam, beams, billet, board, boarding, boards, boondocks, bush, bushveld, character, chase, clapboard, climax forest, cloud forest, conifer, cord, cordwood, deal, dendrology, driftwood, evergreen, firewood, forest, forest land, forest preserve, forestry, fringing forest, fruit tree, gallery forest, girder, greenwood, hanger, hardwood, hardwood tree, index forest, jungle, jungles, lath, lathing, lathwork, log, lumber, mast, material, national forest, palmetto barrens, panelboard, paneling, panelwork, park, park forest, pine barrens, plank, planking, planks, plyboard, plywood, pole, pollard, post, potential, primeval forest, prospect, protection forest, puncheon, quality, rafter, rain forest, reforestation, sapling, scrub, scrubland, seedling, selection forest, shade tree, shake, sheathing, sheathing board, sheeting, shingle, shrubland, sideboard, siding, silviculture, slab, slat, softwood, softwood tree, spar, splat, sprout forest, stand of timber, state forest, stave, stick, stick of wood, stovewood, stuff, talent, three-by-four, timber tree, timbering, timberland, timberwork, tree, tree veld, two-by-four, virgin forest, weald, weatherboard, wildwood, wood, woodland, woods

ROGET THESAURUS

Timber

Materials

N materials, material, raw material, stuff, stock, staple, adobe, brown stone, chinking, clapboard, daubing, puncheon, shake, shingle, bricks and mortar, metal, stone, clay, brick crockery, compo, composition, concrete, reinforced concrete, cement, wood, ore, timber, materials, supplies, munition, fuel, grist, household stuff pabulum, ammunition, contingents, relay, reinforcement, reenforcement, baggage, means, calico, cambric, cashmere, raw, wooden, adobe.

Vegetable

N vegetable, vegetable kingdom, flora, verdure, plant, tree, shrub, bush, creeper, herb, herbage, grass, annual, perennial, biennial, triennial, exotic, timber, forest, wood, woodlands, timberland, hurst, frith, holt, weald, park, chase, greenwood, brake, grove, copse, coppice, bocage, tope, clump of trees, thicket, spinet, spinney, underwood, brushwood, scrub, boscage, bosk, ceja, chaparal, motte, arboretum, bush, jungle, prairie, heath, heather, fern, bracken, furze, gorse, whin, grass, turf, pasture, pasturage, turbary, sedge, rush, weed, fungus, mushroom, toadstool, lichen, moss, conferva, mold, growth, alfalfa, alfilaria, banyan, blow, blowth, floret, petiole, pin grass, timothy, yam, yew, zinnia, foliage, branch, bough, ramage, stem, tigella, spray, leaf, flower, blossom, bine, flowering plant, timber tree, fruit tree, pulse, legume, vegetable, vegetal, vegetive, vegitous, herbaceous, herbal, botanic, sylvan, silvan, arborary, arboreous, arborescent, arborical, woody, grassy, verdant, verdurous, floral, mossy, lignous, ligneous, wooden, leguminous, vosky, cespitose, turf-like, turfy, endogenous, exogenous, green-robed senators of mighty woods, this is the forest primeval.