Adjacent Words

Lumber definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LUM'BER, n.
1. Any thing useless and cumbersome, or things bulky and thrown aside as of no use.
The very bed was violated - and thrown among the common lumber.
2. In America, timber sawed or split for use; as beams, joists, boards, planks, staves, hoops and the like.
3. Harm; mischief. [Local.]
LUM'BER, v.t.
1. To heap together in disorder.
2. To fill with lumber; as, to lumber a room.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the wood of trees cut and prepared for use as building material [syn: lumber, timber]
2: an implement used in baseball by the batter [syn: baseball bat, lumber] v
1: move heavily or clumsily; "The heavy man lumbered across the room" [syn: lumber, pound]
2: cut lumber, as in woods and forests [syn: log, lumber]

Merriam Webster's

I. intransitive verb (lumbered; lumbering) Etymology: Middle English lomeren Date: 14th century 1. to move ponderously 2. rumble II. noun Etymology: perhaps from Lombard; from the use of pawnshops as storehouses of disused property Date: 1552 1. surplus or disused articles (as furniture) that are stored away 2. a. timber or logs especially when dressed for use b. any of various structural materials prepared in a form similar to lumber • lumber adjective III. verb (lumbered; lumbering) Date: 1642 transitive verb 1. to clutter with or as if with lumber ; encumber <plan to lumber the tiny town with a giant ski resort — Marilyn Stasio> 2. to heap together in disorder 3. to log and saw the timber of intransitive verb 1. to cut logs for lumber 2. to saw logs into lumber for the market • lumberer noun

Britannica Concise

Collective term for harvested wood, whether cut into logs, heavy timbers, or members used in light-frame construction. Lumber is classified as hardwood or softwood (see wood). The term often refers specifically to the products derived from logs in a sawmill. Conversion of logs to sawed lumber involves debarking, sawing into boards or slabs, resawing into thinner boards of varying sizes, edging, crosscutting to square the ends and remove defects, grading according to strength and appearance, and drying in the open air or in kilns. Drying below the fiber-saturation point results in shrinkage and generally greater strength, stiffness, and density and better prepares the wood for finishing. Preservatives are often applied to protect the wood from deterioration and decay.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. v.intr. (usu. foll. by along, past, by, etc.) move in a slow clumsy noisy way. Derivatives: lumbering adj. Etymology: ME lomere, perh. imit. 2. n. & v. --n. 1 disused articles of furniture etc. inconveniently taking up space. 2 useless or cumbersome objects. 3 US partly prepared timber. --v. 1 tr. a (usu. foll. by with) leave (a person etc.) with something unwanted or unpleasant (always lumbering me with the cleaning). b (as lumbered adj.) in an unwanted or inconvenient situation (afraid of being lumbered). 2 tr. (usu. foll. by together) heap or group together carelessly. 3 tr. (usu. foll. by up) obstruct. 4 intr. cut and prepare forest timber for transport. Phrases and idioms: lumber-jacket a jacket, usu. of warm checked material, of the kind worn by lumberjacks. lumber-room a room where disused or cumbrous things are kept. Derivatives: lumberer n. (in sense 4 of v.). lumbering n. (in sense 4 of v.). Etymology: perh. f. LUMBER(1): later assoc. with obs. lumber pawnbroker's shop

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lumber Lum"ber, n. [Prob. fr. Lombard, the Lombards being the money lenders and pawnbrokers of the Middle Ages. A lumber room was, according to Trench, originally a Lombard room, or room where the Lombard pawnbroker stored his pledges. See Lombard.] 1. A pawnbroker's shop, or room for storing articles put in pawn; hence, a pledge, or pawn. [Obs.] They put all the little plate they had in the lumber, which is pawning it, till the ships came. --Lady Murray. 2. Old or refuse household stuff; things cumbrous, or bulky and useless, or of small value. 3. Timber sawed or split into the form of beams, joists, boards, planks, staves, hoops, etc.; esp., that which is smaller than heavy timber. [U.S.] Lumber kiln, a room in which timber or lumber is dried by artificial heat. [U.S.] Lumber room, a room in which unused furniture or other lumber is kept. [U.S.] Lumber wagon, a heavy rough wagon, without springs, used for general farmwork, etc.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lumber Lum"ber, b. t. [imp. & p. p. Lumbered; p. pr. & vb. n. Lumbering.] 1. To heap together in disorder. `` Stuff lumbered together.'' --Rymer. 2. To fill or encumber with lumber; as, to lumber up a room.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lumber Lum"ber, v. i. 1. To move heavily, as if burdened. 2. [Cf. dial. Sw. lomra to resound.] To make a sound as if moving heavily or clumsily; to rumble. --Cowper. 3. To cut logs in the forest, or prepare timber for market. [U.S.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(lumbers, lumbering, lumbered) 1. Lumber consists of trees and large pieces of wood that have been roughly cut up. (mainly AM) It was made of soft lumber, spruce by the look of it... He was going to have to purchase all his lumber at full retail price. 2. If someone or something lumbers from one place to another, they move there very slowly and clumsily. He turned and lumbered back to his chair... He looked straight ahead and overtook a lumbering lorry. VERB: V adv/prep, V-ing

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Trash, trumpery, rubbish, refuse. 2. [U. S.] Sawed or split timber. II. v. a. 1. Heap in disorder. 2. Fill with trumpery, choke, crowd, obstruct, encumber. III. v. n. 1. Trudge, move heavily. 2. Rumble. 3. [U. S.] Cut timber, prepare logs for lumber.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

Live lumber; soldiers or passengers on board a ship are so called by the sailors.

Moby Thesaurus

amble, barge, be all thumbs, beam, beams, billet, blunder, blunder away, blunder into, blunder on, blunder upon, board, boarding, boards, boggle, botch, bowl along, bumble, bundle, bungle, burden, burthen, butcher, cargo, charge, chug on, clamjamfry, clapboard, clog, clump, clutter, commit a gaffe, cord, cordwood, cramp, cripple, cross, cumber, cumbrance, deadweight, deal, debris, difficulty, disadvantage, drag, driftwood, dust, embarrass, embarrassment, encumber, encumbrance, enmesh, ensnarl, entangle, entoil, entrammel, entrap, entwine, faux pas, fetter, firewood, flounce, flounder, foot, footslog, freight, fumble, halt, hamper, hamstring, handicap, hardwood, hippety-hop, hitch, hobble, hop, impede, impediment, impedimenta, impose upon, imposition, inconvenience, involve, jog, jog on, jolt, jumble, jump, junk, lade, lame, land, lath, lathing, lathwork, lime, limp, litter, load, log, lunge, lurch, mar, mince, miscue, muddle, muff, murder, net, odds and ends, onus, overload, pace, pack, paddle, panelboard, paneling, panelwork, peg, penalty, piaffe, piaffer, plank, planking, planks, play havoc with, plod, plod along, plug, plug along, plyboard, plywood, pole, post, prance, press down, puncheon, rack, raff, rejects, riffraff, roll, rub on, rubbish, rubble, saddle, saddle with, sashay, saunter, schlep, scrap, scuff, scuffle, scuttle, shackle, shake, shamble, sheathing, sheathing board, sheeting, shingle, shoddy, shuffle, sideboard, siding, sidle, single-foot, skip, slab, slat, slink, slip, slither, slog, slouch, snarl, softwood, splat, spoil, stagger, stalk, stamp, stave, stick, stick of wood, stomp, stovewood, straddle, straggle, stride, stroll, strut, stumble, stump, swagger, swing, tangle, tax, three-by-four, timber, timbering, timberwork, tittup, toddle, toil, totter, traipse, trammel, tramp, trash, trip, trouble, truck, trudge, two-by-four, waddle, wamble, weatherboard, weigh, weigh down, weight, white elephant, wiggle, wobble, wood