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▪ I. † timbre, n.1 Obs.|ˈtɪmbə(r)|
Also 4–5 tymbre, tymber (5 -yr(e, -ere), 5–6 Sc. tymmer (8 timber).
[a. OF. timbre (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.):—*timbne:—late pop.L. *timbano, for L. tympanum, a. Gr. τύµπανον timbrel, kettledrum. In OF. timbre was used in 13th c., and in ME. by Wyclif, to render L. tympanum in Ps. 150. This and the next two words all represent senses of the same French word, but having been taken into Eng. at different dates, and without the intervening links by which the senses were connected in French, are here treated as distinct words.]
= timbrel n.1[a1300French Ps. in Lib. Psalm. Versio Gallica (F. Michel, Oxford 1860) App., Ps. cl. 4 Loés-l'en timbre en concorde (Vulg. Laudate eum in tympano et choro).] 13..K. Alis. 191 Orgles, tymbres [Laud MS. chymbes], al maner gleo, Was dryuen ageyn that lady freo. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1414 Tymbres & tabornes, tulket among. a1366[see timbester]. 1382Wyclif Isa. v. 12 Harpe, and syngende instrument, and tymbre, and trumpe [1388 Harpe and giterne, and tympan, and pipe]. 1390Gower Conf. III. 63 Ther was ful many a tymber bete And many a maide carolende. c1440Promp. Parv. 494/1 Tymbyr, lytyl tabowre, timpanillum. 1525Ld. Berners tr. Froiss. II. clxxi. [clxvii.] 499 They sowned tymbres and tabours, accordynge to their vsage. c1560A. Scott Poems, Of May 12 In May gois gallandis bring in symmer, And trymly occupyis thair tymmer With ‘Hunts vp’, every morning plaid.
b. attrib. in timbre weights, app. = timbrels or tambourines as formerly used in May-day merry-makings.
A weight (Sc. wecht) is a vessel like a sieve without holes, formed by stretching a skin across a hoop of a few inches depth. In shape it resembles a tambourine, which may therefore be called, as Jamieson points out, a timbre or timbrel weight. Wychtis appears to be erroneous for wechtis or weights, and waits to embody a false etymology.
c1560A. Scott Poems, Of May 9 And now in May to madynnis fawis [i.e. falls] With tymmer wechtis to trip in ringis. 1593in 14th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. iii. 41 Dischairgeing [i.e. forbidding] also pasche playis, tymmer wychtis, banefyris and ringing of baisingis [basins]. [1756Gentl. Mag. Feb. 73/2 After having completed this circuit, they again enter the town [Alnwick] sword in hand, and are generally met by women dressed up with ribbons, bells, and garlands of gum-flowers, who welcome them with dancing and singing, and are called timber-waits. [Note] Perhaps a corruption of timbrel-waits, players on timbrels, waits being an old word for those who play on musical Instruments in the streets. ]
▪ II. timbre, tymber, n.2 Obs. exc. Hist.|ˈtɪmbə(r)|
Also 4–6 tymbre, (4 Sc. tymmer), 5–7 timber.
[a. F. timbre (14th c.), the same word as in prec., which in OF. was transferred to a kind of bell, esp. a hemispherical clock- or table-bell, and thence to a skull-cap of metal, a helmet, and in Heraldry to the crest over the shield in a coat of arms. (Thence also to a crest impressed or stamped upon a legal or official document, a stamp, whence to a postage-stamp: see timbro-.)]
The crest of a helmet; hence, the crest or exterior additions placed over the shield in heraldic arms: see quot. 1894.
1375Barbour Bruce xix. 396 Twa novelreis that day [1327–8] thai saw, That forrouth in scotland had beyn nane. Tymbrys [v. rr. Tymbres, Tymmeris] for helmys wes the tane, That thame thoucht than of gret bewte, And alsua wounder for to se. 1478in W. G. D. Fletcher Shropsh. Grants of Arms (1909) 12 A shild of azure and pourpll parted in pale, a cross engrayled gold or bythwen foure rosses silver, and to his tymbre a gauntelet sillver sette in a wrethe gold and azure. 1513Douglas æneis x. v. 136 (ed. 1555) The creist or schynand tymber, that was set Aboue Eneas helme and top on hicht. 1572J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 88 b, The Tymbre, a palme of an hande dexter, d'Ermyne, sette on a Wreath Or, and Sable, manteled Azure. 1586[see achievement 3]. 1894Parker's Gloss. Her., Timbre, this French term..comprises the exterior ornaments of the escutcheon, that is (1) the helmet, (2) the mantelling, (3) the crest. By some, however, it is held to include (4) the escroll, (5) the wreath, (6) the motto, (7) the supporters, as well as (8) the cap of dignity and crown.
▪ III. timbre, n.3|tɛ̃br, ˈtæmbə(r)|
[a. mod.F. timbre: see timbre n.1 and n.2 From the sense ‘bell’, ‘small bell’ (see timbre n.2) arose that of ‘sound of a bell’, ‘sonorous quality of any instrument or of a voice’, and finally that of ‘character or quality of sound’ (= Ger. klangfarbe), in which the word has passed into English use, retaining its French pronunciation.]
The character or quality of a musical or vocal sound (distinct from its pitch and intensity) depending upon the particular voice or instrument producing it, and distinguishing it from sounds proceeding from other sources; caused by the proportion in which the fundamental tone is combined with the harmonics or overtones (= Ger. klangfarbe).
In first quot. only a nonce-use of the Fr. word.
1849C. Brontë Shirley x, Your voice..has another ‘timbre’ than that hard, deep organ of Miss Mann's. 1853Markham Skoda's Auscult. 53 The voices of individuals, and the sounds of musical instruments, differ, not only in strength, clearness, and pitch, but (and particularly) in that quality also for which there is no common distinctive expression, but which is known as the tone, the character, or timbre of the voice. The timbre of the thoracic, always differs from the timbre of the oral, voice... A strong thoracic voice partakes of the timbre of the speaking-trumpet. 1876tr. Blaserna's Sound viii. 147 There are scarcely any two individuals who have exactly the same timbre of voice. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 184 [His] voice..being mild and small of timbre.
▪ IV. † timbre, v.1 Obs.
[f. timbre n.1: cf. F. timbrer.]
intr. To play on the timbrel. Hence † ˈtimbring vbl. n.
c1400Song Roland 54 Blowinge off bugles.., Trymlinge of tabers And tymbring soft. 1530Palsgr. 758/1, I tymber, I playe on an instrument or a tymber, je timbre. The maydens of London were wonte to tymber more than they do nowe.
▪ V. ˈtimbre, v.2
[f. timbre n.2]
trans. To furnish or adorn with a crest; to surmount as a crest. Hence ˈtimbred ppl. a., crested; ˈtimbring vbl. n.
1513Douglas æneis xii. ii. 100 Eik his tymbret helm wyth crestis two. 1606Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. iii. Magnificence 1034 Loe, the Cock..A purple Plume timbers his stately Crest. 1610J. Guillim Heraldry vi. v. 264 In some Countries,..it is not permitted to persons inferior to the degree of a Knight, to Timber their Armes, that is to say, to adorne them with Helme, Mantle, Crest, &c. Ibid. 267 Rodolph Duke of Lorraigne..was the first that bare his Armes Tymbered. 1688R. Holme Armoury iv. vi. (Roxb.) 320/1 Concerning the coate and Tymbreing in the seale thereof. 1894Woodward Eccles. Heraldry 255 The others [helmets] were timbred with the Crest of the See of Mainz.
▪ VI. timbre
obs. form of timber. |