TIM'BER, n. [L. domus, a house; Gr. the body.]

1. That sort of wood which is proper for buildings or for tools, utensils, furniture, carriages, fences, ships and the like. We apply the word to standing trees which are suitable for the uses above mentioned, as a forest contains excellent timber; or to the beams, rafters, scantling, boards, planks, &c. hewed or sawed from such trees. Of all the species of trees useful as timber, in our climate, the white oak and the white pine hold the first place in importance.
2. The body or stem of a tree. Shak.
3. The materials; in irony. Such dispositions – are the fittest timber to make politics of. Bacon.
4. A single piece or squared stick of wood for building, or already framed. Many of the timbers were decayed. Coxe's Switzerland.
5. In ships, a timber is a rib or curving piece of wood, branching outward from the keel in a vertical direction. One timber is composed of several pieces united in one frame. Mar. Dict.

1. To light on a tree. [Not in use.] L'Estrange.
2. In falconry, to make a nest. Cyc. Timber or timmer of furs, as of martens, ermines, sables and the like, denotes forty skins; of other skins, one hundred and twenty. Laws of Ed. Confessor. Timbers of ermine, in heraldry, denote the ranks or rows of ermine in noblemen's coats.

To furnish with timber. [See Timbered.]

1. A certain quantity of fur skins, as of martens, ermines, sables, etc., packed between boards; being in some cases forty skins, in others one hundred and twenty; -- called also timmer.
   
   
   [Written also timbre.]
2. The crest on a coat of arms.
   
   
   [Written also timbre.]
3. To surmount as a timber does.
   
   
   [Obs.]
4. 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.

5. To furnish with timber] -- chiefly used in the past participle.
   
   

   His bark is stoutly timbered. Shak.

6. To light on a tree.
   
   
   [Obs.]
7. The body, stem, or trunk of a tree.
8. To make a nest.
9. 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.

10. 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.

11. Woods or forest; wooden land.
    
    
    [Western U. S.]
12. 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 (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of beetles the larvæ of which bore in timber; as, the silky timber beetle (Lymexylon sericeum). -- Timber doodle (Zoöl.), the American woodcock. [Local, U. S.] -- Timber grouse (Zoöl.), 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. (Zoöl.) Same as Timber worm, below. Bacon. -- Timber tree, a tree suitable for timber. -- Timber worm (Zoöl.), any larval insect which burrows in timber. -- Timber yard, a yard or place where timber is deposited.