timberman
(ˈtɪmbəmən)
[f. timber n.1 + man n.1]
1. † a. A man who supplies or deals in timber. Obs.
| 1429 Rec. St. Mary at Hill 70 Payd to more tymberman for tymbre for gretynges hous. 1625 Bacon Ess., Riches (Arb.) 235 A Great Sheepe-Master, A Great Timber Man. 1656 [? J. Sergeant] tr. T. White's Peripat. Inst. 420 Trees are thrown by Timber-men into the Water. |
b. A man employed in handling timber.
| 1890 Gordon Foundry vi. (heading), Among the timbermen. Ibid. 114 We turn into Canada Dock, and are at once among the timbermen. 1891 Labour Commission Gloss., Timbermen, men who discharge timber cargoes from ships, and stock timber on shore and upon raft on water. |
c. Canad. An owner or manager of a company engaged in lumbering.
| 1889 W. H. Withrow Our Own Country—Canada 527 The trees, where the timbermen have not culled out the finest, are most picturesque. 1963 F. W. Lindsay B.C. Outlaws 7 Among them is..a prominent timberman who recently became interested in timber limits at Quatsino. |
† 2. One who makes things of timber; a carpenter. [So Du. timmerman, G. zimmermann.] Sc. Obs.
| 1466 Sc. Acts Jas. III (1814) II. 87 Þe master of þe schip sal fynd sufficiand stermane, tymmerman, & schipmen conuenient for þe schip. 1496 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 282 To Hermyn, tymmyr man, Duchman, for v{supc} and xij rachteris. 1502 Ibid. II. 281 To fee tymirmen to pas to the wod with the said wricht. 1534 Ibid. VI. 234 To Thomas Corry, thre tymmermen,..to pas to calfet the Kingis schip. 1643 in Cramond Ann. Banff (1891) I. 90 Any wright or other timberman burger or inhabitant. |
3. A man employed in timbering the shafts or roofs of a mine, the sides of a trench, or any other excavation.
| 1849–50 Weale Dict. Terms, Timber-man, in mining, the man employed in placing supports of timber in the mine. 1877 Foster & Galloway tr. Callon's Lect. Mining I. 231 The timberman who sets up the props has usually no special tool except his axe. 1881 Echo 14 Jan. 1/6 A timberman..had seen..one of the men give a light to the manager, both having their lamps open. |
4. A species of timber-beetle.
| 1894 B'ham Weekly Post 14 Apr. 4/7 That curious and interesting beetle the Timberman (Astinomus ædilis). |