subs. (thieves’).—1. A room. [From the Lombard Room in which the mediæval pawnbrokers and bankers stored their pledges.]
1789. G. PARKER, Life’s Painter, 117. Have you any-body in the LUMBER.
1819. J. H. VAUX, Memoirs, s.v., p. 188.
2. (old).—A prison; QUOD (q.v.).
Verb. (old).—(1) To pawn; (2) to imprison.
1819. J. H. VAUX, Memoirs, s.v. LUMBER (p. 188), to LUMBER any property, is to deposit it at a pawnbroker’s, or elsewhere for present security; to retire to any house or private place, for a short time, is called lumbering yourself. A man apprehended, and sent to gaol, is said to be LUMBERED, to be in lumber, or to be in Lombard-street.
1830. W. T. MONCRIEFF, The Heart of London, ii. 1. They LUMBERED him for a few moons.
LIVE LUMBER, subs. phr. (old).—Soldiers or passengers on board a ship are so called by the sailors.—GROSE (1785).
