# timber

Pronunciation: US say "TIM-bur" /ˈtɪmbɚ/; UK/AUS say "TIM-buh" /ˈtɪmbə/

## Noun

1. Wood that has been cut to size and prepared for use in building and construction. *(UK, Australia, New Zealand)*
   - Simple: Wood that has been cut into pieces and is ready to use for building.
   - _Builders stacked the fresh timber beside the half-finished walls._
   - _Each load of timber was inspected before it went into the frame._
2. Trees in a forest considered as a source of wood.
   - Simple: Trees in a forest that people grow and cut down for their wood.
   - _The valley's timber had been harvested steadily for over a century._
   - _Conservationists argued that the old-growth timber should never be logged._
3. A heavy wooden beam, usually a whole log squared off, used to give strong support to something such as a roof.
   - Simple: A heavy wooden beam used to hold up something like a roof.
   - _A massive oak timber ran the length of the ceiling._
   - _The bridge rested on great squared timbers driven into the riverbed._
4. The qualities that make someone suited to a particular role, as in 'presidential timber', or more generally the material something is made of.
   - Simple: The qualities that make a person right for a role, like 'officer timber', or what something is made of.
   - _After watching the recruit for a week, the colonel decided he was real officer timber._
   - _Party leaders spent months asking whether the popular governor was truly presidential timber._
7. The stumps of a cricket wicket. *(slang)*
   - Simple: In cricket, the wooden stumps that form the wicket.
   - _The batsman misjudged the swing and lost his timber to a full toss._
   - _That last ball clattered into the timber and bowled him for a duck._

## Verb

5. To fit something with wooden beams or supports.
   - Simple: To put wooden beams into something to hold it up.
   - _Engineers timbered the trench before workers climbed inside._
   - _The settlers timber their well to stop the walls from collapsing._

## Interjection

6. Used as a warning shout that a tree being cut down is about to fall; also used, often humorously, when anything is toppling over.
   - Simple: A shout that warns people a cut tree is falling, or, as a joke, that anything is falling.
   - _Hearing "Timber!" echo through the forest, the crew dropped their tools and ran._
   - _He cupped his hands and yelled "Timber!" the instant the trunk gave way._

## Verb

8. To surmount or crown something, as a crest surmounts the helmet in a coat of arms. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To sit on top of something, the way a crest sits on top of a helmet in a coat of arms.
9. To construct, frame, or build something. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To build or put a structure together.
10. Of a bird, to make or build a nest. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Of a bird, to build a nest.

## Noun

11. A set quantity of fur skins (such as marten, ermine, or sable) packed between boards, amounting to forty in some cases and one hundred twenty in others. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: An old way of counting fur skins, packed in bundles of forty or sometimes one hundred twenty.

## Other meanings

- (noun) The stock of a rifle or shotgun, so called when it is made of wood.
- (verb) Of a hawk or other bird, to alight and settle in a tree.

## Origin

From Middle English 'tymber' and Old English 'timber', tracing back through Proto-Germanic '*timrą' to the Proto-Indo-European root '*dem-' meaning 'build'. Cognates include German 'Zimmer', Old Norse 'timbr', Latin 'domus', and Ancient Greek 'dómos'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/timber (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).