timber, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

timber n.

1. (US) a thrashing.

1809

Horry & Weems Life of General F. Marion (1816) 197: Clark and his advance wheeled about [...] giving their horses ‘the timber.’.

2. (Anglo-Irish) a wooden leg.

1821

‘A Real Paddy’ Real Life in Ireland 245: As the child was not born with a wooden leg, the Justice thought it couldn’t be mine. I quieted his doubts, by assuring him that it was got before my timber had been fitted on.

3. a birch broom.

1834

Morn. Advertiser 5 Dec. 1/3: A Custom-house cutter hails a market-boat. [...] ‘What’s your lading?’ ‘Fruit and timber.’ Anglice, birchen brooms and potatoes.

4. a match; also attrib.; also as small timber.

1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1836		N.Y. Herald 3 May 1/2: ‘A widow, that kept a sort of timber shop up town.’ ‘A timber shop, Cowan?’ ‘Yes, she sold matches and brooms.’.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.
1973		(con. mid-1960s) J. Patrick Glasgow Gang Observed 81: I asked him for a match. ‘Don’t kerry heavy timber,’ he replied while producing a stolen lighter.

5. the stocks.

1840

‘Christopher Snub’ in New Monthly Mag. (Sept.–Dec.) 184: The squire laughed, and then he gives me over to the beadle, who claps me here in the timber.

6. a clubbing at the hands of the toughs of a town unfriendly to tramps; also attrib.

1899

J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 100: Apart from the ‘timber’ custom, which, I understand, is now practised in other communities also, these two States are good begging districts. [Ibid.] 389: ‘Timber,’ was the favorite word to describe the clubbing given to tramps in certain ‘horstile’ towns.

7. (US black) a toothpick.

1944		Cab Calloway New Hepsters Dict. in Calloway (1976) 260: timber (n.): toothpick.
1944		‘Jiver’s Bible’ in D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive.

8. (US Und.) a police nightstick.

1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

9. (drugs) stems and stalks found in a batch of marijuana.

1975

cited in Spears Sl. and Jargon of Drugs and Drink (1986).

10. see tall timber n. (1)

In compounds

timber-doodle (n.)

(US) any form of spirituous liquor.

1842		Dickens Amer. Notes (1985) 54: There, too, the stranger is initiated into the mysteries of [...] Sherry-cobbler, Timber Doodle, and other rare drinks.
1843		Ainsworth’s Mag. (London) IV 243: Give me another timber-doodle.
1851		Willis’s Current Notes Oct. 80/1: American Drinks [...] Red Rover, Rough and Ready, Sherry Cobbler, Sangarees, Tammany Tickler, Thunder and Lightning, Timber Doodle, Tip and Tie, Uncle Sam, Yankee Doodle.
1859		Commercial Jrnl (Dublin) 18 June 4/6: A glass of sherry [...] is delicious. Snake-root bitters, timber doodle [...] I have only heard of.
1866		Lancaster Gaz. 27 Oct. 6/3: [extracted from Punch] Brandy smmash for ale and stout, / Also timber doodle.
1873		Punch 17 May 201/2: Any description of beverage possessing the properties of American ‘timberdoodle’ [DA].

timber-merchant (n.) [merchant n.]

a match-seller.

1821		W.T. Moncrieff Tom and Jerry III i: Instead of clasping in my arms my pretty timber merchant [...] I found myself hugging that duchess of the dust hole – Dingy Bet.
1830		Characters in Profile n.p.: This ‘timber merchant,’ is well known as a quiet inoffensive man, who seeks a livelihood by retailing his useful commodity [...] ‘Come buy my fine matches, come buy them of me’.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1887		Manchester Courier 7 May 8/4: Beggar: ‘I’m a timber merchant by profession [...] I — um — sell matches’.
1892		Lowestoft Jrnl 22 Oct. 4/5: The timber merchant who purchases matches wholesale, to be retailed in the street at three boxes a penny.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 85: Timber Merchant, one who sells safety matches.
1928		Hull Dly Mail 3 Aug. 1/8: ‘Timber merchant’ was a match seller’s description of his occupation when he was admitted to Hammersmith Institution.
1932		F. Jennings Tramping with Tramps 211: Timber Merchant – match-seller.
1933		M. Marshall Tramp-Royal on the Toby 154: These are the match-sellers, facetiously called timber-merchants, selling matches by the half box.

In phrases

half-timbered (adj.)

one-legged.

1888

Manchester Courier 10 Nov. 9/2: Do ye think I would grapple with such a half-timbered, herring-backed land-lubber such as you?

timber-topping (n.)

(Aus.) steeple-chasing.

1895

Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 86: Timber Topping, hurdle and steeple chasing.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

timber-head (n.) [+ -head sfx (1)]

a fool.

1850		(con. 1843) Melville White-Jacket (1990) 240: Ay, you timberhead, you, I’m Don Pedro II, and by good rights you ought to be a maintop-man here, with your fist in a tarbucket!
1966		Tampa Trib.(FL) 18 Dec. 2/1: ‘You mean he’s named Timberhead?’ [...] ‘No sir. They better call him by his right name, Claude’.

timber stairs (n.) [its wooden construction; logic would suggest the treadmill or ‘everlasting staircase’, but this was not invented until the early 19C]

the pillory.

c.1750

in D. Herd Songs (1776) II. 181: Up stairs, down stairs, Timber stairs fears me.

timber-toe/-toed

see separate entries.

In exclamations

saw your timber!

go away! be off!

1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 206: Saw your timber ‘be off!’ equivalent to cut your stick.
1873		Sl. Dict.