lumber

Definition

Wood sawn into planks or otherwise prepared for sale or use, especially as a building material.

Etymology

Exact origin unknown. The earliest recorded reference for the noun was to heavy, useless objects such as old, discarded furniture. Perhaps from the verb lumber in reference to meaning "awkward to move"; Online Etymological Dictionary thinks this may derive from the same root as lame. Possibly influenced by Lumbar, an obsolete variant of Lombard, the Italian immigrant class known for being pawnbrokers and money-lenders in early England. Compare English lumpish.

Example Sentences

• "Here they live by fishing on the most plentiful coasts in the world; there they fell trees, by the sides of large rivers, for masts and lumber […]."
• "4 December 1883, Chester A. Arthur, Third State of the Union Address The resources of Alaska, especially in fur, mines, and lumber, are considerable in extent and capable of large development, while its geographical situation is one of political and commercial importance.;"
• "On the ſecond day of my impriſonment, I was viſited by the duke of L⁠—⁠—, a friend of my lord, who found me ſitting upon a trunk, in a poor little dining-room filled with lumber, and lighted with two bits of tallow-candle, which had been left over night."