Shipbuilding. One of the uppermost timbers in the side of a ship: see quot. c. 1850. Also attrib.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 8. Then plancke your out-side and inside vp, with your Top timbers.
1664. E. Bushnell, Compl. Shipwright, 20. Marke it on the foot of the Toptimber Mould.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), C iv b. The top-timbers, which are … united to the floor-timbers.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVII. 378/1. The top-timber line, is a curve [drawn along the top of the ribs] limiting the height of the ship at each timber.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 156. Top-timbers, the timbers which form the topside: those which reach the tops are called the long top-timbers, and those below … the short top-timbers.
