Word.ws English Dictionary

timberclad

/ˈtɪmbə(ɹ)ˌklæd/

timberclad adjective: covered or sheathed with timber; having an exterior layer of wood.

Adjective

timberclad (not comparable)

  1. Covered or sheathed with timber; having an exterior layer of wood.
    • Prof. Shimek, who has studied the fossils and argues strongly for the eolian origin, says the shells found at Council Bluffs, Iowa and at other points were denizens of timberclad hills.1908, Geologisches Centralblatt [Geological Review], volume X, Leipzig: VERLAG VON GEBRÜDER BORNTRAEGER, page 104
    • At this time the streets of Melbourne were unformed, gum trees covered the present site of the city, timberclad slopes extended down to the Yarra, which was then a pleasant unpolluted stream.1924 May, “Reminiscences from 1841 of William Kyle, a Pioneer”, in THE VICTORIAN HISTORICAL MAGAZINE, volume X, number 1, THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF VICTORIA, page 159
  2. (historical) Describing a warship armored with thick wooden planks for protection, especially during the American Civil War.
    • Three timberclad gunboats also joined the federal flotilla as escorts for the troop transports.2001, Louis S. Gerteis, Civil War St. Louis, illustrated edition, University Press of Kansas, page 243
    • Although the timberclad gunboats, the first units in the Western Flotilla, performed well, there were too few of them to accomplish all the missions required: Army support, counterinsurgency, convoy protection, patrol, communications, and coast guard.2010, Myron J. Smith, Jr., Tinclads in the Civil War: Union Light-Draught Gunboat Operations on Western Waters, 1862-1865, illustrated edition, illustrated, page 36

Noun

timberclad (plural timberclads)

  1. (historical) A timberclad warship.
    • Small boats from the timberclad, under the direction of her executive officer Acting Volunteer Lt. Martin Dunn, were actively enggaged in the hunt for torpedoes all morning.2014, Myron J. Smith, Jr., The Fight for the Yazoo, August 1862-July 1864: Swamps, Forts and Fleets on Vicksburg's Northern Flank, illustrated edition, McFarland, page 108

Examples of timberclad in a sentence

  • For instance, when I go to Manchester where I hold court I cross a small stream which runs under a railroad bridge and then is lost behind timberclad hills.1928 August, JUDGE GEORGE W WOOD, “Trips Afield with Boys”, in Outdoor America, volume VII, number 1, page 38:
  • A timberclad warship is a kind of mid 19th century river gunboat.2025 March 12, Wikipedia contributors, “Timberclad warship”, in English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation:

Forms of timberclad

Adjective
alternative formtimber-clad
Noun
pluraltimberclads

Origin of timberclad

From timber + clad.

Questions about timberclad

What does timberclad mean?
Timberclad means covered or sheathed with timber; having an exterior layer of wood.
How do you use timberclad in a sentence?
For instance, when I go to Manchester where I hold court I cross a small stream which runs under a railroad bridge and then is lost behind timberclad hills.
What part of speech is timberclad?
Timberclad can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce timberclad?
Timberclad is pronounced /ˈtɪmbə(ɹ)ˌklæd/.

Words near timberclad in the dictionary

  1. timber-land
  2. timber-lands
  3. timber-toe
  4. timber-toes
  5. TimberBiel
  6. timberclad
  7. timberclads
  8. timberdoodle
  9. timberdoodles
  10. timbered
  11. timberer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: timberclad (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “timberclad.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/timberclad. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.