timber

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

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

Commerce 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. [Written also timbre.]

Origin: F. timbre. See Timbre.

Heraldry The crest on a coat of arms. [Written also timbre.]

To surmount as a timber does. obsolete

Origin: 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.

1. 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.

And ta'en my fiddle to the gate,... And fiddled in the timber!— Alfred Tennyson

2. The body, stem, or trunk of a tree.

3. Fig.: Material for any structure.

Such dispositions are the very errors of human nature; and yet they are the fittest timber to make politics of.— Francis, Baron Verulam Bacon

4. 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.

So they prepared timber... to build the house.— 1 Kings v. 18.

Many of the timbers were decayed.— William Coxe

5. Woods or forest; wooden land. Western U. S.

6. Shipbuilding 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.

Timber and room. Shipbuilding Same as Room and space. See under Room. — Timber beetle Zoology, any one of numerous species of beetles the larvae of which bore in timber; as, the silky timber beetle (Lymexylon sericeum). — Timber doodle Zoology, the American woodcock. regional (US) — Timber grouse Zoology, any species of grouse that inhabits woods, as the ruffed grouse and spruce partridge; — distinguished from prairie grouse. — Timber hitch Nautical, 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. Dr. Samuel Johnson — Timber scribe, a metal tool or pointed instrument for marking timber. Peter Lund. Simmonds — Timber sow. Zoology Same as Timber worm, below. Francis, Baron Verulam Bacon — Timber tree, a tree suitable for timber. — Timber worm Zoology, any larval insect which burrows in timber. — Timber yard, a yard or place where timber is deposited.

To furnish with timber; — chiefly used in the past participle.

His bark is stoutly timbered.— William Shakespeare

1. To light on a tree. obsolete

2. Falconry To make a nest.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54