lumber
1 Americannoun
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timber sawed or split into planks, boards, etc.
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miscellaneous useless articles that are stored away.
verb (used without object)
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to cut timber and prepare it for market.
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to become useless or to be stored away as useless.
verb (used with object)
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to convert (a specified amount, area, etc.) into lumber.
We lumbered more than a million acres last year.
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to heap together in disorder.
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to fill up or obstruct with miscellaneous useless articles; encumber.
noun
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logs; sawn timber
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cut timber, esp when sawn and dressed ready for use in joinery, carpentry, etc
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( as modifier )
the lumber trade
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useless household articles that are stored away
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( as modifier )
lumber room
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verb
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(tr) to pile together in a disorderly manner
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(tr) to fill up or encumber with useless household articles
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to convert (the trees) of (a forest) into marketable timber
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informal (tr) to burden with something unpleasant, tedious, etc
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(tr) to arrest; imprison
verb
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to move awkwardly
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an obsolete word for rumble
Other Word Forms
- lumberer noun
- lumberless adjective
- lumberly adjective
Etymology
Origin of lumber1
First recorded in 1545–55; of uncertain origin; perhaps because the cut and trimmed timber was dried and seasoned in a lumber room ( def. )
Origin of lumber2
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English lomeren; compare dialectal Swedish lomra “to resound, roar,” loma “to walk heavily”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It also faces steeper tariffs on steel, aluminium and softwood lumber.
From BBC
One day, which is to say one Thursday, because all good stories start on a Thursday, Duane lumbered into the Very, Very Far North from somewhere else.
From Literature
Next moment I heard something big lumbering through the brush.
From Literature
Such tariffs are already in place on commodities such as steel and lumber and on certain industries such as makers of medium- and heavy-duty trucks.
Army Green Berets lumbered through a northern Swedish pine forest, struggling not to fall on their brand new skis as they dragged sleds over hills and frozen creeks.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
