timber
UK /ˈtɪmbə/ · US /ˈtɪmbɚ/ noun, interjection, verb
Forms timbers timber! timbering timbered
- noun (uncountable) Trees in a forest regarded as a source of wood. “collect timber”
- noun (outside Canada, US, uncountable) Wood that has been pre-cut and is ready for use in construction.
- noun (countable) A heavy wooden beam, generally a whole log that has been squared off and used to provide heavy support for something such as a roof. “the timbers of a ship”
- noun Material for any structure.
- noun (firearms, informal) The wooden stock of a rifle or shotgun.
- noun (archaic) A certain quantity of fur skins (as of martens, ermines, sables, etc.) packed between boards; in some cases forty skins, in others one hundred and twenty. Also timmer, timbre.
- noun (cricket, slang) The stumps.
- interjection Used by loggers to warn others that a tree being felled is falling.
- interjection (by extension) A cry used when anything is falling over.
- verb (transitive) To fit with timbers. “timbering a roof”
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To construct, frame, build.
- verb (falconry, intransitive) To light or land on a tree.
- verb (obsolete) To make a nest.
- verb (transitive) To surmount as a timber does.
Synonyms
timberland forest lumber wood beam rafter woodland timbre quality tone
Etymology
From Middle English tymber, from Old English timber, from Proto-West Germanic *timr, from Proto-Germanic *timrą (“building; timber”), from Proto-Indo-European *dem- (“to build; to arrange”) (see Proto-Indo-European *dṓm (“home, house”)).
Cognate with Dutch timmer (“building, construction; chamber, room”), German Zimmer (“room, timber”), Luxembourgish Zëmmer (“room”), Yiddish צימער (tsimer, “room”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål tømmer (“timber”), Faroese and Icelandic timbur (“timber, wood”), Norwegian Nynorsk timber, tymbur, tømmer (“timber”), Swedish timmer (“timber”), Gothic 𐍄𐌹𐌼𐌱𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (timbrjan), 𐍄𐌹𐌼𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (timrjan, “to build, construct; to edify, strengthen”); also Breton danvez (“material, matter; fabric; fortune, wealth”), Cornish devnydh (“inhredient, material, stuff; use”), Irish and Scottish Gaelic damhna (“matter”), Welsh defnydd (“material, stuff; gear, implement, instrument; application; cause, occasion, reason”), Latin domus (“home, house”), Ancient Greek δόμος (dómos, “house; household”), Albanian dhomë (“chamber, room”), Latgalian noms (“house”), Latvian nams (“house”), Lithuanian namas (“house”), Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Russian дом (dom, “home, house”), Czech dům (“house”), Polish, Slovak, and Slovene dom (“home, house”), Serbo-Croatian до̑м, dȏm (“home, house”), Ukrainian дім (dim, “home, house; building”), Armenian տուն (tun, “home, house; family, household”), Avestan 𐬛𐬀𐬨 (dam, “house”), Sanskrit दम् (dam, “house”), दम (dama, “home”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.]
- noun The crest on a coat of arms. [Written also timbre.]
- verb To surmount as a timber does. [Obs.]
- noun 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.
Etymology [Probably the same word as timber sort of wood; cf. Sw. timber, LG. timmer, MHG. zimber, G. zimmer, F. timbre, LL. timbrium. Cf. Timmer.]
Etymology [F. timbre. See Timbre.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “timber”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details