Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TIM'BER, n. [Sax. timber, wood, a tree, structure; timbrian, to build, to edify, in a moral sense; Goth. timbryan, to construct; Sw. timmer, wood fit for building; timra, to build, to frame; Dan. tömmer, timber; tömrer, to build; D. timmer, an apartment; timber, a crest; timmeren, to build; timmerhout, timber; G. zimmer, an apartment; zimmern, to square, fit, fabricate; zimmerholz, timber. If m is radical, which is probable, this word coincides with Gr. δεμω, L. domus, a house, and Gr. δεμας, the body. The primary sense is probably to set, lay or found.]

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.