pit prop

plural pit props

1. A wooden beam used as a support within a mineshaft or tunnel.

   Some centres specialise in timber, and those conveniently situated to the coalfields deal with large quantities of pit props.

   1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 9

   1 more example

   Whereas Germany at the outbreak of war was the greatest purchaser of Swedish iron ore, Great Britain was by far the greatest buyer of Swedish wood products. German submarines, however, have taken deadly toll of Scandinavian ships laden with pit-props bound for England.

   1915 December 2, D. Thomas Curtin, “Sweden's Rôle in the Great War”, in The World's Work, volume XXXI

   Synonyms: mine prop