Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Timber \Tim"ber\, n. [AS. timbor, timber, wood, building; akin
   to OFries. timber, D. timmer a room, G. zimmer, OHG. zimbar
   timber, a dwelling, room, Icel. timbr timber, Sw. timmer,
   Dan. t["o]mmer, Goth. timrjan to build, timrja a builder, L.
   domus a house, Gr. ? house, ? to build, Skr. dama a house.
   [root]62. Cf. {Dome}, {Domestic}.]
   1. That sort of wood which is proper for buildings or for
      tools, utensils, furniture, carriages, fences, ships, and
      the like; -- usually said of felled trees, but sometimes
      of those standing. Cf. {Lumber}, 3.

            And ta'en my fiddle to the gate, . . . And fiddled
            in the timber!                        --Tennyson.

   2. The body, stem, or trunk of a tree.

   3. Fig.: Material for any structure.

            Such dispositions are the very errors of human
            nature; and yet they are the fittest timber to make
            politics of.                          --Bacon.

   4. A single piece or squared stick of wood intended for
      building, or already framed; collectively, the larger
      pieces or sticks of wood, forming the framework of a
      house, ship, or other structure, in distinction from the
      covering or boarding.

            So they prepared timber . . . to build the house.
                                                  --1 Kings v.
                                                  18.

            Many of the timbers were decayed.     --W. Coxe.

   5. Woods or forest; wooden land. [Western U. S.]

   6. (Shipbuilding) A rib, or a curving piece of wood,
      branching outward from the keel and bending upward in a
      vertical direction. One timber is composed of several
      pieces united.

   {Timber and room}. (Shipbuilding) Same as {Room and space}.
      See under {Room}.

   {Timber beetle} (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous species of
      beetles the larv[ae] of which bore in timber; as, the
      silky timber beetle ({Lymexylon sericeum}).

   {Timber doodle} (Zo["o]l.), the American woodcock. [Local, U.
      S.]

   {Timber grouse} (Zo["o]l.), any species of grouse that
      inhabits woods, as the ruffed grouse and spruce partridge;
      -- distinguished from prairie grouse.

   {Timber hitch} (Naut.), a kind of hitch used for temporarily
      marking fast a rope to a spar. See Illust. under {Hitch}.
      

   {Timber mare}, a kind of instrument upon which soldiers were
      formerly compelled to ride for punishment. --Johnson.

   {Timber scribe}, a metal tool or pointed instrument for
      marking timber. --Simmonds.

   {Timber sow}. (Zo["o]l.) Same as {Timber worm}, below.
      --Bacon.

   {Timber tree}, a tree suitable for timber.

   {Timber worm} (Zo["o]l.), any larval insect which burrows in
      timber.

   {Timber yard}, a yard or place where timber is deposited.