timber

Etymology 1

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).

noun

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.

intj

1. Used by loggers to warn others that a tree being felled is falling.

verb

1. (transitive) To fit with timbers.
   timbering a roof
2. (transitive, obsolete) To construct, frame, build.
   For many heads that undertake [learning], were never squared nor timbred for it. 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, London: Edw. Dod & Nath. Ekins, published 1650, Book I, Chapter 5, p. 14
3. (falconry, intransitive) To light or land on a tree.
4. (obsolete) To make a nest.
5. (transitive) To surmount as a timber does.

Etymology 2

noun

1. Misspelling of timbre.