Entry · catalog no. 4345
Timbs
/ /tɪmz/ /timz
noun · New York City · 1990s
✓ Verified
1.
Timberland boots, and specifically the six-inch yellow nubuck work boot in wheat or butter. The dominant spelling in print and in lyrics; Tims is the more common spoken form.
“Suede Timbs on my feets makes my cipher complete.”
Origin & Attribution
New York City — Harlem, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. Timberland put out the six-inch boot in 1973 for New England construction work. New York dealers took it up in the 1980s because it survived winters on a corner, and the rappers followed them, not the other way around. Biz Markie, Wu-Tang, Nas, Mobb Deep, Biggie, Jay-Z, DMX and Redman carried it out of the boroughs.
1973
Timberland introduces the six-inch waterproof work boot
1991
Biz Markie's rougher than a pair of Timbs, the earliest known lyrical use
1994
Nas, The World Is Yours, on Illmatic — suede Timbs on my feets
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The Northeast
New York City · 1990s
Spoken by
Black and Latino New Yorkers; hip-hop nationally
$TIMBSThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Enduring3 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
70/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1991
in the culture
Mainstream crossover
1994
search interest spikes
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@bxgriot
The Bronx, NY
@phillyanne
Philadelphia, PA
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Biz Markie, I Need a Haircut (Cold Chillin')
1991
■
Nas, The World Is Yours, from Illmatic (Columbia), 19 April
1994
■
+ Cite a sourceThe Notorious B.I.G., Suicidal Thoughts, from Ready to Die
1994
Also spelled
See also