Forms: α. 1– timber; 4–5 -bir, 4–7 -bre, 5 -bur (7 -berr), 3–7 tymber, 4–6 -bre, 5 -byr, -bir(e, 5–6 -bur, (tembre). β. Sc. and north. dial. 4–5 tymyr(e, 5 tymmir, -yr(e, (temir, -yr), 5–9 tymmer, 6 tymer, -ir, (temmer), 8–9 timmer. [OE. timber = OFris. timber, OS. timbar (Du. dial. timmer), OHG. zimbar (MHG. zimber, G. zimmer room), ON. timbr timber (Sw. timmer, Da. tømmer), Goth. *timr (cf. timr-jan to build, timr-ja builder, etc.):—OTeut. *tim-ram:—*tem-rom:—Indo-Eur. *dem-rom, f. ablaut series *dem : *dom : *dm, to build: cf. Gr. δέμ-ειν to build, δόμ-ος, L. dom-us house.]
† 1. A building, structure, édifice, house. Also fig. Obs. (? only OE.)
a. 750. Cædmon’s Gen., 135. Þa seo tid ʓewat ofer timber [MS. tiber] sceacan middanʓeardes.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, ci. 8. Swe swe spearwa se anga in timbre [unicus in aedificio]. Ibid., cxxviii. 6. Sien swe swe heʓ timbra [faenum aedificiorum].
a. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. xiv. [xvii.] (1890), 204. Þa næʓlas … þe heo mid þæm to þæm timbre [ædificio] ʓefæstnad wæs. Ibid., IV. iii. (1890), 262. Þæt … þa lifiʓendan stanas þære cirican of eorðlicum seþlum to þæm heofonlican timbre ʓebær.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Mark xiii. 1. ʓesih hulco stanas & huliʓ timber [Ags. Gosp. hwylce ʓetimbrunga, Vulg. quales structuræ].
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 198. Sio [liver] is blodes timber, & blodes hus & fostor.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 3692. Þey logged hem, & tymber teld [Petyt MS. timbred teld = constructed tents (which is prob. the correct reading)].
† b. The process of building. Obs. (only OE.)
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 178. On .vi. nihtne monan … he is … god circan on to timbrane and eac scipes timber on to anginnanne.
† 2. Building material generally; material for the construction of houses, ships, etc., or (in extended sense) of any manufactured article; the matter or substance of which anything is built up or composed; matter, material, stuff. Obs. Cf. BELLY-TIMBER, flesh-timber (FLESH sb. 13).
In early use including 3; in later use prob. fig. from it.
a. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. xvi. [xxii.] (1890), 224. Þætte ne meahten godo beon, þa ðe monna hondum ʓeworhte wæron of eorðlicum timbre, oðþe of treom, oðþe of stanum.
a. 1000. Laws Ecgbert, Poenit., in Thorpe, Ags. Laws, Addit. 16 II. 234. Ne sceal cyrcean timber [L. ligna ecclesiæ] to æniʓum oðrum weorce.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 333–4 (Cott.). Þis wright … Fra al oþer, sundri and sere, For þai most oþer timber take, Bot he þis self can timber make.
1607–12. Bacon, Ess., Goodness (Arb.), 206. Such disposicions are … the fittest tymber to make great Pollitiques of.
1840. M. F. Shepherd, in Life of Adam Clarke, viii. 261. There is much sound timber in these sermons.
3. spec. Wood used for the building of houses, ships, etc., or for the use of the carpenter, joiner, or other artisan; wood in general as a material; esp. after it has been suitably trimmed and squared into logs, or further adapted to constructive uses.
(A restricted use of sense 2, and in early quots. often not distinguishable from it.)
a. 1100. Gerefa, in Anglia (1886), IX. 261. On wintra erian and in miclum ʓefyrstum timber cleofan.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 27. And ðe wrihte his timber to keruen after ðare mone.
c. 1205. Lay., 22929. Timber me lete biwinnen and þat beord bi-ginnen.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1724. Now wat sir noe quat wark to do And hent timber þat fel þar-to.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIV. ii. (Tollem. MS.). Ararat is þe hyȝest hill of Armenia;… and ȝit to þis day þe tymber of þe schip is sene in þe mounteyne.
1466. Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1869), I. 23. Mak the ruiffes of guid tymmer and theik thame with sclaitt.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 29. Ye tymmer of ye larche tre … is very … profitable for bildyng.
a. 1674. Milton, Hist. Mosc., i. Wks. 1851, VIII. 472. Thir Boats of Timber without any Iron in them.
1712. W. Rogers, Voy., 338. Vessels … chiefly imploy’d in carrying Timber, Salt,… and other Commodities.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 84. The timber of the Beam Tree (Pyrus Aria) is invaluable for axletrees.
1832. Planting, 92. in Lib. Usef. Kn., Husb., III. When the wood of a stem or branch of any species of plant attains to the dimensions of 24 inches in circumference, or upwards of eight inches in diameter, it is termed timber.
b. Wood as a substance, or as the material of small utensils or parts of them. Now dial.
1530. Rastell, Bk. Purgatory, II. xii. A cup of tymber or metal.
a. 1631. Drayton, Robin Hood & Merry Men, 31. Their arrows finely paired, for timber and for feather.
1663. Wood, Life, 30 Nov. (O. H. S.), I. 503. For setting up a strip of timber on my window, 6d.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 84/2. The Wood, or Timberr, is between the Sap and Heart.
1793. T. Scott, Poems, 364 (E.D.D.). A breast o’ timmer an’ a heart o’ stane.
1834. Smart, Rhymes, 135 (ibid.). Her wheels were made o’ timmer.
4. Applied to the wood of growing trees capable of being used for structural purposes; hence collectively to the trees themselves: standing timber, trees, woods. Rarely in pl.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., IV. vi. § 2. Æfter siexteʓum daʓa þæs þe ðæt timber [L. arbores] acorfen wæs.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 11808. A kanker … the werm … That ffreteth the herte off a tre, And … Doth to tymber gret damage.
1566. in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 1584. 209/1. Habere lie wattillis et lie fallin tymmer de silva de Cleue.
1634. Wood, New Eng. Prosp. (1865), 16. The Timber of the Countrey growes straight, and tall.
1718. Free-thinker, No. 59, ¶ 11. A naked Ground, blest only with a small Group of Timber.
1787. G. White, Selborne, viii. (1789), 22. A rough estimate of the value of the timbers … growing at that time in the district of The Holt.
1841. W. Robinson, Assam, 41. Another large and elegant timber indigenous to the forests of Assam, is the Cedrela Toona, Roxb., (Asam, Pomá).
1880. C. R. Markham, Peruv. Bark, 158. We continued our journey … through a forest of grand timber.
b. spec. in English Law, Trees growing upon land, and forming part of the freehold inheritance: embracing generally the oak, ash, and elm, of the age of twenty years or more; in particular districts, by local custom, including other trees, with various limitations as to age.
As to the legal bearing of this, see quots. 1766, 1818.
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. xviii. § 6. 281. Timber also is part of the inheritance. Such are oak, ash, and elm in all places: and in some particular countries, by local custom, where other trees are generally used for building, they are thereupon considered as timber; and to cut down such trees, or top them, or do any other act whereby the timber may decay, is waste.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), I. 131. By the custom of some countries, certain trees, not usually considered as timber, are deemed to be such, being there used for building…. And all the Justices at Serjeants’ Inn were of opinion that in the county of York birch trees were timber, and belonged to the inheritance; therefore they could not be taken by the tenant for life.
1891. Daily News, 19 Jan., 5/4. By the custom of the county of Buckingham beech trees are timber.
5. transf. Applied to any object familiar to the speaker, composed wholly or chiefly of wood, as † a spear-shaft; † a bowl; a ship; the stocks (slang); wooden gates and fences (Hunting slang); a wicket (Cricket slang); small timber, lucifer matches (street slang).
c. 1400. Rowland & O., 455. Theyre Ioynynge was so harde that tyde That theyre timbir in sondire gan ryde.
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 2349. I pray, that thou woldist my son lere, Hys Tymber ffor to asay.
c. 1450. Merlin, 117. [They] mette to-geder on the sheldis, so that the horse ne myght not passe ferther till the tymbres were broken.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., III. ii. Come, turn the timmer to laird Patie’s health.
1791. ‘G. Gambado,’ Ann. Horsem., vi. (1809), 90. The leaps large and frequent, and a great deal of timber to get over.
1851–4. D. Jerrold, Men of Char., Chr. Snub, i. The squire … gives me over to the beadle, who claps me here in the timber.
1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, iii. 17. They … would grind over the Vale of Evenlode and the March Gibbon double timber as gayly and undauntedly as over the accommodating Bullingdon hurdles.
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, iv. 3. Nor yet a timber o’er the waves alertly flew.
1876. in Bettesworth, Walkers of Southgate (1900), 332. Appleby … dislodged Webbe’s timbers by his second ball in the first over.
b. spec. A wooden leg: cf. timber-toe in 10; hence transf. a leg. slang.
1807. Ruickbie, Wayside Cottager, 9 (E.D.D.).
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 35. Boys, miss my pegs … and hit my legs, My timbers well can stand your gentle taps.
1862. Whyte-Melville, Ins. Bar (ed. 12), I. 230. [The hounds] have a strong family likeness in the depth of their girth … and the quality of the timber on which they stand.
6. A single beam or piece of wood forming or capable of forming part of any structure. Also collectively in pl. a. gen.
c. 1555. Harpsfield, Divorce Hen. VIII. (Camden), 288. The treasure that was made of the timbers, bells, and leads, and the ornaments of the church.
1623. Gouge, Serm. Extent God’s Provid., § 15. The massy timber [a summer] shivered in two, as suddenly as the other knapped asunder.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 85. To fasten the outside Timbers.
1859. W. S. Coleman, Woodlands (1866), 11. The original timbers after this immense lapse of time are still sound internally.
1893. Labour Comm. Gloss., Pair of Timber, two timbers placed against the sides of the tunnels in a mine at acute angles with the bottom. They support not only these sides but also another timber, which upholds the roof.
b. pl. spec. Naut. The pieces of wood composing the ribs, bends, or frames of a ship’s hull: see FRAME sb. 11 d, quot. 1769.
Often preceded by a qualifying word, as cant-, compass-, cross-, filling-, floor-, futtock-, head-, knee-, knuckle-, rising-, side-, square-, stern-, top-timbers: see these words.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. iv. 158. Her spirkiting and timbers were very rotten.
1782. Cowper, Royal George, 29. Her timbers yet are sound.
1809. A. Henry, Trav., 185. We dragged our barges over the neck of land, but not without straining their timbers.
1857. Colquhoun, Comp. Oarsman’s Guide, 29. All the ribs underneath these [floor-boards] are called floor timbers, the rest simply timbers.
1885. Sir J. C. Mathew, in Law Times Rep., LII. 265/1. Her timbers, no doubt, held together, but she was no longer a ship.
fig. 1751. Smollett, Per. Pic., xxxvii. My timbers are now a little crazy, d’ye see; and God knows if I shall keep afloat till such time as I see thee again.
1850. B. Taylor, Eldorado, xiii. (1862), 132. I, whose timbers were somewhat strained, laboured after him.
c. Naut. slang, in exclamations, as my timbers! shiver my timbers! (see SHIVER v.).
1789. Dibdin, Song, Poor Jack, ii. My timbers! what lingo he’d coil and belay.
7. fig. Bodily structure, frame, build; also, in later use, the ‘stuff’ of which a person is made; personal quality or character.
1612. Paule, Life Abp. Whitgift, § 138. 93. For his small timber, he was of a good quicke strength, straight and well shaped.
1611. Beaum. & Fl., Knt. Burn. Pest., II. ii. The twelve Companies of London cannot match him, timber for timber.
1670. Milton, Hist. Eng., VI. Wks. 1851, V. 261. Canute … doubting to adventure his body of small Timber, against a man of Iron sides.
1822. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. Some old Actors. He was not altogether of that timber out of which cathedral seats and sounding-boards are hewed.
1906. Munsey’s Mag., Jan., 411. His wish to be courteous to men of Cardinal Rampolla’s timber.
8. attrib. or adj. Made or consisting of wood; wooden. (See also 9, 10.)
1529. Rastell, Pastyme (1871), 291. The said duke, protectour … toke the lorde Hastynges … and … caused his hede to be smytten of upon a tymber log within the Towre.
1535. Coverdale, Isa. xxii. 8. Then was sene the sege of the tymbre house.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 323 b. The Spaniardes with theyr ordenaunce beate doune a timber walle.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Cassandra, The treason of the tymber horse at the siege of Troye.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 23. The making of Timber partitions.
1700. R. Sinclair, in Leisure Hour (1883), 205/2. Timber cups and dishes.
1799. J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 92. A timber mallet wrought by the hand was all they had … to break the clods.
1890. Service, Notandums, viii. 48. The leg will be stiff for mony a day to come, and like a timmer ane for vera thrawnness.
b. Sc. dial. Unmusical; having no musical ear; dull, ‘wooden’; unimpressionable.
1815. Scott, Guy M., iii. He was a good deal diverted with the harsh timber tones which issued from him.
1874. Outram, Annuity, ix., in Mod. Sc. Poets (1881), II. 218. The timmer limmer daurs the knife To settle her annuity.
1875. Jas. Grant, One of the 600, vi. 46. I regretted my own timbre tones. But I must confess to being enchanted while Louisa sang.
1893. Stevenson, Catriona, vii. 75. You have the finest timber face.
1901. Blackw. Mag., July, 58/1. If I were not, so far as music goes, as timber as the table there.
9. Comb. a. attrib. (often two words, as in 8), ‘of or for timber,’ as timber-ash, -bar, -beam, -broker, -butt (BUTT sb.3), -claim, color, -crib (CRIB sb. 14), -culture, elm, -factor, forest, † -haw (HAW sb.1), -house, -land, -log, -market, -mell (MELL sb.1), -merchant, -mill, -monger, -nail, -oak, -patch, -plank, -post, -raft, -shade, -ship, -sled, -slide, -trade, -wain, -wright. b. obj. and obj. gen., as timber-borer, -cutter, -devourer, -feller, -floater, -worker; timber-boring, -carrying, -cutting, -devouring, -eating, -floating, -producing sbs. and adjs. c. instrumental and parasynthetic, as timber-built, -ceilinged, -covered, † -heeled, -laden, -lined, -propt, -skeletoned, -strewn adjs.; also timber-like adj.
1707. *Timber Ash [see timber oak].
1685. Boyle, Effects of Mot., v. 44. In the striking of a *timber-beam at one end, the motion … may become sensible at the other.
1815. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., viii. (1818), I. 235. The most extensive family … of *timber-borers are the capricorn beetles. Ibid. (1817), xxi. (1818), II. 235. A little *timber-boring beetle.
1703. T. S., Art’s Improv., 23. An Observation of an Experienced *Timber Broker.
1825–9. Mrs. Sherwood, Lady of Manor, xii. An old *timber-built cottage.
1608. T. Cocks, Diary (1901), 32. Payde … for bringinge home my two *tymber butts.
1903. Ld. R. Gower, Rec. & Remin., 226. A handsome *timber-ceiling’d hall.
1890. L. C. D’Oyle, Notches, 124. He took up a ‘homestead’ and a *‘timber-claim’ with the … intention of raising cattle and a family.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel (1664), 84. Frames … gilded, the ground a *Timber colour.
1895. Outing (U.S.), XXVII. 44/2. Enclosed between three great peaks—one *timber-covered to its top.
1888. Lighthall, Yng. Seigneur, 11. A *timber-crib which was going to run a rapid.
1887. Daily News, 3 Nov., 5/4. Buying under the homestead and *timber-culture laws.
1775. Romans, Florida, App. 30. Fires … occasioned by the hunters and *timber-cutters, who burn the woods to clear them of under-wood.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. xxxiv. 430. In the stag-beetle, and some other *timber-devourers. Ibid., xxx. 146. A small *timber-devouring beetle. Ibid. (1815), viii. (1818), I. 237. *Timber-eating beetles.
1731. Gentl. Mag., Nov., 502/2. James Jelly … *Timber-Factor and Wharfinger.
c. 1617. Chapman, Iliad, XI. 79. When in hill-environ’d vales the *timber-feller takes A sharp set stomach to his meat.
1854. Hooker, Himal. Jrnls., I. xvii. 398. The shelter of *timber-floaters.
1887. Moloney, Forestry W. Afr., 205. The Gambia *timber-floating industry.
1442, 1457. *Tembre haw, tymbre hawes [see HAW sb.1].
1640–1. Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855), 149. Women’s schoes, *tymber heilled, of the best sort.
1535. *Tymbre house [see 8].
1723. Mandeville, Fab. Bees (1725), I. 419. If … Ships should always have fine Weather,… Ships would last as long as Timber-Houses.
1871. Kingsley, At Last, xii. A roomy timber house, beautifully thatched with palm.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXIV. 191/1. The right to timber and *timber-like trees belongs to the landlord.
1897. P. Warung, Tales Old Regime, 95. The walls of the shaft were … *timber-lined.
1529. *Tymber log [see 8].
1583. Golding, Calvin on Deut., viii. 44. That there is no more zeal in vs than in a timberlogge.
1681. Dryden, Spanish Fryar, III. i. 32. What are become of those two Timber-loggs that he us’d to wear for Leggs?
1477. in Charters, &c. Edinb. (1871), 141. The wod and *tymmer merket.
1721. Ramsay, Horace to Virgil, 41. Hercules, wi’s *timber-mell, Plays rap upo’ the yates of hell.
1679–88. Secr. Serv. Money Chas. II. & Jas. II. (Camden), 206. John Martyr, *timber merchant.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl., 11 June. He lived some time as a clerk to a timber-merchant.
1908. Chambers’s Jrnl., Nov., 702/2. Tasmania prides itself on its … giant *timber-mills.
1275. Memoranda, K. R. 2 & 3 Edw. I., 11 b (P.R.O.). Recognicio Iohannis le *Tymbermongere.
1552. Huloet, *Tymber nayle, impago.
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), II. 106. In the above Scheme, the first Column is the Names of the Fields,… the third the number of *Timber Oaks, the fourth the Timber Ash, the fifth the Timber Elms.
1886. Ebbutt, Emigr. Life Kansas, 96. We could not get down to our *timber patch.
1609. Bible (Douay), Gen. vi. 14. Make thee an arke of *timber planke.
1622. Callis, Stat. Sewers (1647), 213. Piles and *Timberposts are set in the waters.
1887. Moloney, Forestry W. Afr., 3. The approximate extent of *timber-producing forests.
1785. Burns, Halloween, xxiii. It chanc’d the stack he faddom’t thrice, Was *timmer-propt for thrawin’.
1853. Sir H. Douglas, Milit. Bridges, 236. The large *timber-rafts which descend the St. Lawrence.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 936. Plaine Champaignes … Or else *Timber-Shades, as in Forrests.
1704. Lond. Gaz., No. 4005/2. Her Majesty’s Ship the Shoreham, having under her Convoy 4 *Timber Ships.
1852. Mundy, Our Antipodes (1857), 198. The snow affords a road … where the *timber-sled, with its ponderous log, runs glibly down to the creek.
1884. S. E. Dawson, Hand-bk. Canada, 287. Close at hand are the *timber slides, by which the lumber from the upper river passes down without damage into the navigable water below.
1855. A. Morris, Canada, iv. 64. A new branch of the timber trade has been established during the present year, in the transport, from the line of the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway, of shooks or boxes for sugar.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Homes Abroad, iv. 59. The creaking *timber-wain.
1848. Buckley, Iliad, 239. Some pine which *timber-workers have cut down.
c. 1450. Cov. Myst., xv. 6. I … am a pore *tymbre wryht [MS. wryth], born of the blood of Davyd.
10. Special combs.: timber-beetle, any beetle that, in the larval or the perfect state, is destructive to timber; timber-brick, a brick-shaped block of wood, inserted in brickwork; timber-capricorn, a kind of timber-beetle (CAPRICORN 3); timber-cart, spec. a high-wheeled cart for carrying heavy timber, which is slung under the axles; timber-chain, an iron chain used in hauling timber; timber-dog, a short wrought iron rod with both ends turned down and sharpened, for driving into and holding together timbers in tunneling or the timbering of trenches; timber-doodle, U.S. local, the American woodcock, Philohela minor (Cent. Dict., 1891); slang, spirituous liquor; timber-fall, a mass of fallen trees; timber-frame, † (a) timber for use in frames (FRAME sb. 10); (b) see quot. 1877; timber-framed a., having a frame of timber, framed in wood; timber-grouse, U.S., any species of grouse frequenting woodlands; timber-head, Naut., the head or end of any timber; spec. such an end rising above the deck and serving as a bollard: see KEVEL sb.2, quot. c. 1860; timber-headed a., wooden-headed, dense or obtuse in intellect; timber-hitch sb., a knot used in attaching a rope to a log or spar for hoisting or towing it: see quot. 1815; hence timber-hitch v., trans. to make fast with a timber-hitch; timber-jumper (Hunting slang), a horse good at jumping over gates and fences; timber-leader, Coal Mining (see quot.); timber-limit: see quot.; timber-line (chiefly U.S.), the altitude above sea-level at which timber-trees cease to grow; timber-lode, in Feudal Law, a service by which a tenant was bound to carry wood felled in the forests to the lord’s house (cf. BORD-LODE); timber-mare, a kind of wooden horse on which offending soldiers and others were made to ride as a punishment; timber-pond, a recess in a dock or harbor where timber may be floated; timber-road, a road laid with timber for wheels to run upon, an early form of railroad; timber-rot, (a) rotting of wood caused by various hymenomycetous fungi; (b) New Eng., a hot-house disease of cucumbers (Funk’s Stand. Dict.); timber-scribe [SCRIBE sb.2]: see quots.; timber-sow, a wood-louse or sow-bug, Oniscus; † timber-stairs (slang), the pillory; † timber-taster, a dockyard official formerly employed in testing the measurement, soundness and quality of timber; timber-toe (slang), a wooden leg; hence timber-toe, -toes, a wooden-legged man; so timber-toed a.; timber-topper = timber-jumper; so timber-topping; timber-tower, a wooden tower on wheels formerly used in sieges; timber-tug: see quot.; † timber-turner, humorously used for a player at bowls; timber-wolf, Western U.S., the grey wolf, Canis lupus occidentalis, as distinct from the prairie-wolf; timber-worm, a ‘worm’ or larva injurious to timber. See also TIMBERMAN, -TREE, etc.
1841–52. T. W. Harris, Insects injur. Veget. (1862), 58. The first was obtained by beating the limbs of some forest-tree. It may be called Lymexylon sericeum, the silky *timber-beetle.
1802. Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1813), III. 138. The *Timber Capricorn. Both in its perfect and in its larva state … feeds principally on fir timber, which has been felled.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., *Timber Cart.… The timber, after the cart is driven over it, is raised to the axle by crank-gearing and tackle.
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), I. 308. The quickest way of pulling them [shrubs and bushes] up, is to inclose in a *Timber-Chain as many of them as you can, and to clap to them a Team of Horses.
1837. London Dispatch, 30 April, 4/3. Their conduct called to his recollection the squemishness of the inhabitants of some place in America, whose extreme delicacy induced them to call a ‘wood-cock’ a *‘timber-doodle.’
1873. Punch, 17 May, 201/2. Any description of beverage possessing the properties of American ‘timberdoodle.’
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 289. We climbed up one hill,… went through our athletic sports over sundry *timber falls, and struck down into the ravine.
1703. T. N., City & C. Purchaser, 237. 7s. which indeed is the common price for sawing a good large siz’d *Timber-frame … per Load.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Timber-frame, a gang-saw; the name by which it is known in England.
1843. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., VI. 179/2. Along a whole range of lofty *timber-framed roofs.
1904. Essex Rev., XIII. 215. The house is timber-framed in oak, standing on plinth of brick and septaria.
1891. Cent. Dict., *Timber-grouse.
1894. Outing (U.S.), XXIV. 305/1. We … had great fun with the timber-grouse and the sage-hens.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, II. 287. The head-rail and *timber-head, on the fore side of the cathead.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, x. We went aft and manned the slip-rope which came through the stern port with a turn round the timber-heads.
1666. W. Boghurst, Loimographia, 74. Such *timber-headed fellows that they could make noe accurate observations.
1815. Burney, Falconer’s Dict. Marine, s.v. Hitch, *Timber Hitch … is made by taking the end of a rope round the spar, or timber head, leading it under and over the standing part, and passing several turns round its own part.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 2. What is a timber hitch used for? For bending to a spar, to haul it along, sending it aloft, &c.
1893. F. M. Crawford, Childr. King, II. xii. 214. He slipped the line under the bags of ballast, and made a timber-hitch with the end, hauling it well taut.
1882. Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 87. The standing part is *timber-hitched round the yard.
1847. Thackeray, Contrib. to Punch, Wks. 1902, VI. 498. I never put my leg over such a *timber-jumper in my life.
1891. Labour Commission Gloss., *Timber-leader,… a person whose duty is to ensure the sufficiency of props, planks, brattice, and crown trees, supplied to each hewer in northern coal mines.
1876. Encycl. Brit., IV. 274/1. The Governments of the different provinces [Canada] grant licences … to cut timber over vast tracts of land, under the name of *‘timber limits.’
1874. Coues, Birds N.-W., 272. The flowers growing far above *timber-line of Mount Lincoln.
c. 1400. Will. Thorne, Chron., an. 1364. Pro schippeshere, *timberlode & bordlode, vel cariare extra waldam per mare.
a. 1670. Spalding, Hist. Troub. Scotl. (1850), I. 290. He causit big wp … ane *tymber meir, quhairvpone runnaget knaves and runaway soldiouris sould ryde.
1755. Johnson, Horse,… a wooden machine which soldiers ride by way of punishment. It is sometimes called a timber-mare.
1840. Evid. Hull Docks Comm., 9. The *timber-pond to which I allude is at this spot.
1803. Naval Chron., IX. 279. Four low wheels,… to run … upon a rail-way or *timber-road.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Timber-scribe, a metal tool or pointed instrument for marking logs and casks.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Timber-scribe, a scoring-tool for timber; a race-knife.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 692. Creatures bred of Putrefaction;… as Earth-Wormes, *Timber-Sowes, Snails.
c. 1750. in Herd, Songs (1776), II. 181. Up stairs, down stairs, *Timber stairs fears me.
1803. T. Netherton, in Naval Chron., XV. 220. The *timber tasters … have been paid at the same rate … as the labourers.
1806. 3rd Report Revising Commission. The several Measurers, Timber Tasters, Converters, and Plug Keepers [etc.], are to be called Single-stationed-men.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. T., *Timber toe, a man with a wooden leg.
a. 1845. Hood, Forget-me-nots, iv. Why did he plant his timber toe on my toe.
a. 1814. Sailor’s Ret., II. iii., in New Brit. Theatre, II. 343. The old *timber-toed pensioners.
1883. Standard, 12 Feb., 2/6. The champion *timber-topper of the day.
1904. Daily Chron., 26 Feb., 9/3. An animal who is to be condemned to the drudgery of *timber-topping.
1614. Sylvester, Bethulia’s Rescue, III. 111. Here, th’ Enginer begins his Ram to rear;… Brings here his Fly-Bridge, There his batt’ring Crow: Besides high *Timber-Towers, on rowling Feet Mov’d and remov’d.
a. 1800. Pegge, Suppl. Grose, *Timber-tug (Kent), the carriage of a waggon for conveying timber, with a long perch, which may be adapted to any length, or shortened.
1599. Porter, Angry Wom. Abingd. (Percy Soc.), 20. Com Swonds, where be these *timber turners, these trowle-the-bowles, these greenemen, these ——?
1891. Century Dict., *Timber-wolf.
1904. Westm. Gaz., 28 April, 12/1. Last year the female timber-wolf in the Zoological Gardens produced eight cubs.
1530. Palsgr., 251/1. *Tymbre worme.
1599. T. M[oufet], Silkwormes, 23. Before thou wast, were Timber-worms in price?
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 1083. The Philosopher saith that Kis is a little Creature bred in wood, like Worms bred in Corn; the English call them Timber-worms, because they are seldome in any wood but that which is cut, and prepared for building.
1668. Charleton, Onomast., 55. Cossi, Timber-worms.
