The Collaborative International Dictionary
Top-timbers
Top-timbers \Top"-tim`bers\, n. (Naut.)
The highest timbers on the side of a vessel, being those
above the futtocks.
--R. H. Dana, Jr.
Usage examples of "top-timbers".
Yes,' he said, gazing on that familiar side, the frigate's starboard bow and hull as far aft as half way along her waist, something like a quarter of the ship there on the perfect sand, her top-timbers buried but the rest quite free, remarkably unmutilated, the paintwork fresh.