woodcock
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A woodcock and its lunch, an earthworm.
See also: Woodcock
English
Etymology
From Middle English wodecocke, wode-koc, wodekok, from Old English wudecocc, wuducoc, equivalent to wood + cock.
Pronunciation
Noun
woodcock (plural woodcock or woodcocks)
- Any of several wading birds in the genus Scolopax, of the family Scolopacidae, characterised by a long slender bill and cryptic brown and blackish plumage.
- 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 286:
- "[A]h, that was the woodcock and the goatsucker - yes, yes! it sounds strange to him, that hasn't heard him[.]"
- A simpleton.
- c. 1607–1611, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Cupid’s Revenge”, in Comedies and Tragedies , London: Humphrey Robinson, , and for Humphrey Moseley , published 1679, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i:
- If I loved you not, I would laugh at you, and see you / Run your neck into the noose, and cry, "A woodcock!"
- 1838, Nathan Drake, Belletristical Works, volume 1, page 215:
- "Now will that silly woodcock make such a report of what I have said to his chosen friend," observed Sir Robert to his companion when my Lord Cobham was out of hearing […]
Derived terms
- Amami woodcock, Scolopax mira
- American woodcock, Scolopax minor
- Bukidnon woodcock, Scolopax bukidnonensis
- Eurasian woodcock, Scolopax rusticola
- Javan woodcock, Scolopax saturata
- Moluccan woodcock, Scolopax rochussenii
- New Guinea woodcock, Scolopax rosenbergii
- Scotch woodcock
- Sulawesi woodcock, Scolopax celebensis
Related terms
- roding, the patrolling flight pattern of the woodcock.
Translations
wading bird in the genus Scolopax
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