A tree yielding timber or wood fit for building or construction.
c. 1505. Plumpton Corr. (Camden), 198. Tha will bey none without they have tymmer tres.
1558–9. Act 1 Eliz., c. 15. Any Tymber Tree or Tymber Trees or Oke, Beeche, or Ashe.
1601. R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw. (1603), 15. The noblemen doe make great profit by selling great quantities … for firewood, but greater by sales of timber trees; for … the greatest part of their buildings consist of timber.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, I. viii. Cutting down some of the largest timber trees for oars and masts.
1766. Act 6 Geo. III., c. 48. All Oak, Beech, Chestnut, Walnut, Ash, Elm, Cedar, Fir, Asp, Lime, Sycamore, and Birch Trees, shall be deemed and taken to be Timber Trees within the true Meaning … of this Act.
1865. Chambers’ Encycl., s.v. Poplar, The cottonwood of North America is valued as a timber-tree.
