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)

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• Audio (AU) (noun)

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• 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.

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, 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