lumber
/ˈlʌm.bɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.59 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Wood sawn into planks or otherwise prepared for sale or use, especially as a building material.
Canadian usage; American usage; Uncountable
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."
- "We made all haste down stairs, and soon threw open the street door, for the reception of as much lumber, of all sorts, as our house would hold, brought into it by several who thought it necessary to move their furniture."
- "The bookful blockhead ignorantly read, / With loads of learned lumber in his head,[…]"
- "a. 1746, Lady Grisell Baillie Murray, Memoirs of the Lives and Characters of the Right Honourable George Baillie They put all the little plate they had […] in the lumber, which is pawning it, till the ships came."
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.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈlʌm.bɚ/
- British English: /ˈlʌm.bə/