rail timbern.
/ˈreɪl ˌtɪmbə/, U.S. /ˈreɪl ˌtɪmbər/ U.S.
Timber suitable for making rails.
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > wood > [noun] > wood for making rails
rail timber1662
rail-cut1774
1662 in Portsmouth (New Hampsh.) Rec. (1901) 396 He is to preserve all the Rayle timber.
1681 Town Rec. Topsfield, Mass. (1917) I. 36/2 There shall be noe raile timber feled.
1786 G. Washington Diary 30 Oct. (1925) III. 131 The Wood part, of wch. there is a good deal, is tolerably full of rail timber and wood.
1816 U. Brown Jrnl. in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1915) 10 281 A poor stony rocky Country..with an abundance of good Chestnut rail Timber.
1878 J. C. Guild Old Times 117 The first was interrogated very closely as to the cutting of some rail-timber and its value.
1921 J. M. Wright Free Negro in Maryland vi. 183 One negro in Dorchester was to have the privilege of cutting firewood and rail-timber from certain land without a charge.
1992 C. Murray-Wooley & K. B. Raitz Rock Fences of Bluegrass iii. 77 Farmers on the Bluegrass limestone lands had two options: either keep about one-third of a farm in woods to supply rail timber or replace the rails with rock fences.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1662