What does "lumber" mean?
Wood sawn into planks or otherwise prepared for sale or use, especially as a building material.
Lumber
/ˈlʌm.bə/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Wood sawn into planks or otherwise prepared for sale or use, especially as a building material.
- Grammar: lumber is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: timber, wood, amble, balks.
- Useful contrasts: brushwood, hasten, hurry.
- Usage evidence: Good lumber is hard to find these days.
How to use "lumber"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "lumber" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "lumber" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "lumber" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "lumber" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "lumber" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "timber" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "lumber", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Wood sawn into planks or otherwise prepared for sale or use, especially as a building material. Canada, US, uncountable, usually
"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 […]."
- 2 an implement used in baseball by the batter wordnet
- 3 Old furniture or other items that take up room, or are stored away. archaic, uncountable, usually
"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."
- 4 the wood of trees cut and prepared for use as building material wordnet
- 5 Useless or cumbrous material. figuratively, uncountable, usually
"The bookful blockhead ignorantly read, / With loads of learned lumber in his head,[…]"
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 A pawnbroker's shop, or room for storing articles put in pawn; hence, a pledge, or pawn. obsolete, uncountable, usually
"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."
- 7 A baseball bat. slang, uncountable, usually
- 8 An erect penis. slang, uncountable, usually, vulgar
Verb
- 1 To move clumsily and heavily; to move slowly. intransitive
"...he was only apprized of the arrival of the Monkbarns division by the gee-hupping of the postilion, as the post-chaise lumbered up behind him."
- 2 cut lumber, as in woods and forests wordnet
- 3 To load down with things, to fill, to encumber, to impose an unwanted burden on. transitive
"They’ve lumbered me with all these suitcases."
- 4 move heavily or clumsily wordnet
- 5 To heap together in disorder.
"so much stuff lumberd together"
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 To fill or encumber with lumber.
"to lumber up a room"
- 7 To pawn (goods). obsolete, slang, transitive
Example
"Good lumber is hard to find these days."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "lumber"?
Common synonyms include: timber, wood, amble, balks, bamboo, barge.
How do you use "lumber" in a sentence?
Good lumber is hard to find these days.
How do you pronounce "lumber"?
Pronounced /ˈlʌm.bə/.
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.