noun

• 1Wood prepared for use in building and carpentry.

  ‘the exploitation of forests for timber’

  More example sentences

  • ‘a small timber building’
  • ‘The rainforest is being cleared legally and illegally for timber, for pulp wood to make paper, and to make way for oil palm plantations.’
  • ‘An abundance of coppice woods, known as spring woods, were required to provide charcoal, tan bark, fuel wood and timber.’
  • ‘They cleared some of the natural broadleaf woodland to make way for sheep pastures; they also coppiced or managed other parts of the woodland for timber and firewood.’
  • ‘At the rear of the stone building was a small timber extension with a range of further accommodation.’
  • ‘Malaysia is also a major producer of timber and timber products including hardwoods.’
  • ‘Its product, wood, is of primary importance to humans as timber for construction, fuelwoods, and wood-pulp for paper manufacturing.’
  • ‘The kitchen beyond is painted blue with red floor tiling and a good range of whitewashed timber units at ground and eye-level.’
  • ‘This comprises the aforementioned sauna as well as an attic room with timber floor, wood panelled walls and a Velux window.’
  • ‘Having spent four years restoring the cottage, it is now home, from where Richard works as a woodworker making timber buildings and follies.’
  • ‘Building with timber results in lower greenhouse emissions and less air and water pollution, while it also produces less solid waste by-products.’
  • ‘Traditional timber buildings, craft demonstrations, street entertainers and a replica ship will create an authentic period atmosphere.’
  • ‘The project was a three-year labour of love, in which they raised $60,000 to replace the old timber building.’
  • ‘The next stage will involve building 340 timber lodges.’
  • ‘On July 2 in that year, a fire swept through the village, destroying dozens of the thatched and timber buildings.’
  • ‘The timber buildings suffered from woodworm and supplied an ideal location for woodlice, spiders and wasps.’
  • ‘A man gifted with his hands, he was content and at ease building walls and making timber panels.’
  • ‘For the author, the craft of building in timber is not so much carpentry as wizardry.’
  • ‘One of the problems he faces is access to prepared timber.’
  • ‘Savannah has clearly invested in the corporate look as the furniture and surroundings are streamlined with natural materials: timber, stone, glass and leather.’
  • ‘He hadn't seen that kind of quality timber for sale in all his twenty-seven years.’

  Synonyms

  wood, logs, firewood

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1Trees grown for use in building or carpentry.
     ‘contracts to cut timber’
     More example sentences

     • ‘Today, top grade oak timber is increasingly hard to find, with borer-perforated trees more suitable for paper or pulpwood.’
     • ‘That's because until seedlings reach green-up, regulations keep adjacent cut blocks of marketable timber off limits to loggers.’
     • ‘The cooperative has formed forest protection teams that have helped in the confiscation of illegally cut timber.’
     • ‘Many landowners cut their best remaining timber to supplement their income and feed their families.’
     • ‘Sixty years later he was amazed that more timber was being cut than during the bonanza era of lumbering.’
     • ‘Since only oak met the high requirements of strength and durability, oak timber became a strategic raw material.’
     • ‘Trees take 80 years to mature and timber is cut every five years, giving a big income boost in that year.’
     • ‘For example, unexpected medical bills may make it necessary for a landowner to harvest and sell timber that would otherwise have been allowed to grow longer.’
     • ‘Coffee can be grown along with high-value timber, for example, or with tropical fruits that could be sold as concentrates or jams.’
     • ‘The large quantities of timber grown in inland Aberdeenshire were floated down river to ports for shipment.’
     • ‘The ring was even seeking Carey Act segregations on land where timber grew.’
     • ‘We can grow twice as much timber on our land if the markets tell us to do so.’
     • ‘Beech is a very easy timber to grow on a rotational basis.’
     • ‘Much of the timber had been cut for income and the few cows that were there were left to Rose Lane's brother, Alton.’
     • ‘But, locally there is plenty of fell land on which we could grow bio-fuel timber, and it might make a change from looking at endless conifers.’
     • ‘When Shoaf started out, he loved the woods, the Forest Service, and cutting timber.’
     • ‘In some places, great swathes of hillside have been cut away in the urgency to log timber.’
     • ‘The branch-cutting of oaks that was common everywhere meant that good timber was ruined.’
     • ‘Their most reliable income comes from cutting timber.’
     • ‘They longed for jobs picking fruit, cutting timber or doing construction - anything besides hanging poultry.’
  2. 1.2usually timberscount noun A wooden beam or board used in building a house or ship.
     ‘The low, irregular ceiling is crisscrossed with beams made from ships' timbers and a log fire crackles merrily in the hearth.’
     More example sentences

     • ‘The house or building is reinforced with timbers supporting the floors inside.’
     • ‘Cedar, fir, and pine were the preferred ship timbers of the ancient Mediterranean.’
     • ‘Most of the timbers from the ship have now been lifted and are currently being conserved in wet tanks at a disused steelworks nearby.’
     • ‘There were also the remains of ship's timbers, nails and other metalwork.’
     • ‘There was other, direct, evidence of dry rot in the timbers of the building.’
     • ‘The wreck is wooden, with the timbers laid in a double-diamond pattern.’
     • ‘The walls have wooden panelling, the timbers of the roof are exposed and the views over Glasgow are panoramic.’
     • ‘The quality of the ship timbers produced by the Samoans did not escape notice.’
     • ‘The other comes from the echo that resounds through the timbers and floor-boards.’
     • ‘The stairways and the timbers used have had few equals in the present day.’
     • ‘Repairs to the plasterwork, timbers, roof and pillars were carried out and the structure was also lime washed.’
     • ‘Masses of vines spiraled upward against the vertical timbers and covered the thatched roof.’
     • ‘The result is a charming house full of exposed brick walls and old timbers.’
     • ‘Although much of the decking is rotten, the structural timbers are intact giving some parts of the wreck a skeleton appearance.’
     • ‘This is the wreck of a very old wooden sailing vessel complete with huge oak timbers, row upon row of copper nails and who knows what else.’
     • ‘Mr Ward said the droppings had blocked the gutters and downpipes on the building, causing water to seep into the roof timbers.’
     • ‘This room also features a Georgian fireplace with cast iron inset and exposed black floor timbers.’
     • ‘The interior features are what make the building so special, with intact original Tudor ironwork and timbers.’
     • ‘Burnt roof timbers beneath the collapsed tiles show it was destroyed in a fire.’
     Synonyms

     beam, wooden beam, spar, pole, plank, batten, lath, board, joist, rafter

     View synonyms
  3. 1.3as exclamation Used to warn that a tree is about to fall after being cut.
     More example sentences

     • ‘we cried ‘Timber!’ as our tree fell’

• 2US informal usually with adjective Personal qualities or character.

  More example sentences

  • ‘she is frequently hailed as presidential timber’
  • ‘A woman just will not be accepted as presidential timber in the current macho-male-dominated political environment.’
  • ‘I definitely think he is presidential timber.’
  • ‘What is the real meaning of presidential timber?’
  • ‘For the first 40 years of his life, Bush was never considered presidential timber.’