timber

From Middle English tymber, from Old English timber, from Proto-West Germanic *timr, from Proto-Germanic *timrą, from Proto-Indo-European *dem- (“build, house”) (see Proto-Indo-European *dṓm).

Cognates include Dutch timmer, Old High German zimbar (German Zimmer), Norwegian tømmer, Old Norse timbr, Gothic 𐍄𐌹𐌼𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (timrjan, “to build”), Latin domus and Ancient Greek δόμος (dómos).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪmbə/, (interjecting) IPA^(key): [ˈtɪˑmˌbəː]
• (General American) enPR: tĭmʹbər, IPA^(key): /ˈtɪmbɚ/, (interjecting) IPA^(key): [ˈtɪˑmˌbɚː]

• Audio (US) (noun)

  (file)

• Audio (AU) (noun)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪmbə(ɹ)
• Homophone: timbre (for one US pronunciation)
• Hyphenation: tim‧ber

timber (countable and uncountable, plural timbers)

1. (uncountable) Trees in a forest regarded as a source of wood.

   collect timber

   cut down timber

2. (outside Canada, US, uncountable) Wood that has been pre-cut and is ready for use in construction.
3. (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

4. Material for any structure.
5. (firearms, informal) The wooden stock of a rifle or shotgun.
6. (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.

• (trees considered as a source of wood): timberland, forest
• (wood that has been cut ready for construction): lumber (US), wood
• (beam used to support a roof): beam, rafter

• (wooden beam used to provide support): crosstree

timber!

1. Used by loggers to warn others that a tree being felled is falling.
   • 1961, Robert S. Close, With Hooves of Brass, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 34:

     From the core of the trunk come explosive cracks sounding like rifle-fire. The top of the tree begins swaying drunkenly, as if struggling to keep on its feet. The warning cry "Timber!"

2. By extension, a cry used when anything is falling over.
   • 1991, Rex Mossop, The Moose That Roared, Sydney: Ironbark Press, page 160:

     The cameras caught the big man crashing to the studio floor. It seemed to take an age for Sticks to hit the deck and as he went down we all chorused "Timberrrr!"

timber (third-person singular simple present timbers, present participle timbering, simple past and past participle timbered)

1. (transitive) To fit with timbers.

   timbering a roof

2. (transitive, obsolete) To construct, frame, build.
   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica‎, London: Edw. Dod & Nath. Ekins, published 1650, Book I, Chapter 5, p. 14:

     For many heads that undertake [learning], were never squared nor timbred for it.

3. (falconry, intransitive) To light or land on a tree.
4. (obsolete) To make a nest.
5. (transitive) To surmount as a timber does.

timber

1. Misspelling of timbre.

• betrim, biterm, timbre

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɪmbər/, /ˈtɪmːər/

timber n (definite singular timberet or timbret, uncountable)

1. (pre-1938) alternative form of tømmer

From Proto-West Germanic *timr, from Proto-Germanic *timrą, from Proto-Indo-European *dem- (“build, house”) (see Proto-Indo-European *dṓm).

Cognates include Old Saxon timbar, Old High German zimbar, Old Norse timbr, Gothic 𐍄𐌹𐌼𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (timrjan, “to build”), and Latin domus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtim.ber/

timber n

1. timber
2. building (both senses)

• andtimber
• timbran

• Middle English: timber
  • English: timber
  • Scots: timmer, tymmer, tymer

From Old Norse timbr, from Proto-Germanic *timrą.

timber n

1. timber; wood used for building

• Swedish: timmer