Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
Related Searches
on Ask.com
Nearby Entries
woodcock - 4 dictionary results

wood⋅cock

  [wood-kok]
Use woodcock in a Sentence
–noun, plural -cocks, (especially collectively) -cock for 1, 2.
1. either of two plump, short-legged migratory game birds of variegated brown plumage, the Eurasian Scolopax rusticola and the smaller American Philohela minor.
2. any of various pileated or ivory-billed woodpeckers.
3. Archaic. a simpleton.
Origin:
bef. 1050; ME wodecok, OE wuducoc. See wood 1 , cock 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To woodcock
wood·cock   (wŏŏd'kŏk')   
n.   pl. woodcock or wood·cocks
Either of two related game birds, Scolopax rusticola of the Old World or Philohela minor of North America, having brownish plumage, short legs, and a long bill.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Woodcock

Wood"cock`\, n. [AS. wuducoc.]

1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of several species of long-billed limicoline birds belonging to the genera Scolopax and Philohela. They are mostly nocturnal in their habits, and are highly esteemed as game birds.

Note: The most important species are the European (Scolopax rusticola) and the American woodcock (Philohela minor), which agree very closely in appearance and habits.

2. Fig.: A simpleton. [Obs.]

If I loved you not, I would laugh at you, and see you Run your neck into the noose, and cry, "A woodcock!" --Beau. & Fl.

Little woodcock. (a) The common American snipe. (b) The European snipe.

Sea woodcock fish, the bellows fish.

Woodcock owl, the short-eared owl (Asio brachyotus).

Woodcock shell, the shell of certain mollusks of the genus Murex, having a very long canal, with or without spines.

Woodcock snipe. See under Snipe.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Cite This Source

woodcock 
O.E. wuducoc, from wudu "wood" (n.) + coc "cock."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Search another word or see woodcock on Thesaurus | Reference