Search the Dictionary

A line of connected floating timbers stretched across a river, or inclosing an area of water, to keep saw logs, etc., from floating away. Boom iron, one of the iron rings on the yards through which the studding-sail booms traverse. -- The booms, that space on the upper deck of a ship between the foremast and mainmast,…

The service formerly required of a tenant, to carry timber from the woods to the lord's house. Bailey. Mozley & W.

To be pierced or penetrated by an instrument that cuts as it turns; as, this timber does not bore well, or is hard to bore.

of one who, or that which, bores; as, the boring of cannon; the boring of piles and ship timbers by certain marine mollusks. One of the most important applications of boring is in the formation of artesian wells. Tomlinson.

To impregnate with a preservative solution of copper sulphate, as timber, railroad ties, etc.

ed by the Turks for strangling offenders. Bowstring bridge, a bridge formed of an arch of timber or iron, often braced, the thrust of which is resisted by a tie forming a chord of the arch. -- Bowstring girder, an arched beam strengthened by a tie connecting its two ends. -- Bowstring hemp (Bot.), the tenacious fiber…

A shot, crooked timber, resembling a knee, used as a support.

leguminous tree; but other trees also yield it. An interior sort comes from Jamaica, the timber of C. Braziliensis and C. crista. This is often distinguished as Braziletto , but the better kind is also frequently so named.

one of considerable size, with large, lobed leaves. Cloth is made from the bark, and the timber is used for many purposes. Called also breadfruit tree and bread tree.

A thick piece of timber in the form of a knee, placed across the stem of a ship to strengthen the fore part and unite the bows on each side. Totten.

The external angle of knee timber, the inside of which is called the throat.

The system of bracing used between floor or other timbers to distribute the weight. Bridging joist. Same as Binding joist.

A strong flat bar of iron, so bent as to support, as in a stirrup, one end of a floor timber, etc., where no sufficient bearing can be had; -- called also stirrup and hanger.

An ax with a broad edge, for hewing timber.

A peculiar brad-shaped spike, to be driven alongside the end of an abutting timber to prevent its slipping.

A piece of wood placed on a lumberman's sled to sustain the end of heavy timbers. [Local, U.S.]

and allied genera, usually with brilliant metallic colors. The larvæ are usually bores in timber, or beneath bark, and are often very destructive to trees.

nd of a bridge without arches is supported. Butment cheek (Carp.), the part of a mortised timber surrounding the mortise, and against which the shoulders of the tenon bear. Knight.

A joint between two pieces of timber or wood, at the end of one or both, and either at right angles or oblique to the grain, as the joints which the struts and braces form with the truss posts; -- sometimes called abutting joint.

in dense heads. -- Button tree (Bot.), a genus of trees (Conocarpus), furnishing durable timber, mostly natives of the West Indies. -- To hold by the button, to detain in conversation to weariness; to bore; to buttonhole.