Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CAM'BER, n. [Fr. cambrer, to arch, to vault, to bend, from L. camera, a vault, a chamber.]

Among builders, camber, or camber-beam is a piece of timber cut archwise, or with an obtuse angle in the middle, used in platforms, where long and strong beams are required. As a verb, this word signifies to bend, but I know not that it is used. A cambered-deck is one which is higher in the middle, or arched, but drooping or declining toward the stem and stern; also, when it is irregular.