woodcock
/ˈwʊd.kɒk/
woodcock noun: any of several wading birds in the genus Scolopax, characterised by a long slender bill and cryptic brown and blackish plumage.
Noun
woodcock (plural woodcock or woodcocks)
- Any of several wading birds in the genus Scolopax, characterised by a long slender bill and cryptic brown and blackish plumage.
- "[A]h, that was the woodcock and the goatsucker - yes, yes! it sounds strange to him, that hasn't heard him[.]"1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 286
- The woodcook is not only a culinary delight but it is reputed to increase seminal fluid.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 251
- A simpleton.
- If I loved you not, I would laugh at you, and see you / Run your neck into the noose, and cry, "A woodcock!"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...
- "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[…]1838, Nathan Drake, Belletristical Works, volume 1, page 215
Proper noun capitalized: Woodcock
Woodcock (countable and uncountable, plural Woodcocks)
- A surname from Old English.
- A borough and neighbouring township in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, United States.
woodcock meaning in Tamil
woodcock in Tamil
- wading bird in the genus Scolopax
- ஆங்கிலப்பெயர் āṅkilappeyar
Forms of woodcock
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | woodcock |
| plural | woodcocks |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Woodcocks |
Origin of woodcock
From Middle English wodecocke, wode-koc, wodekok, from Old English wudecocc, wuducoc, equivalent to wood + cock.
From Old English wuducoc (“woodcock”), a nickname for a stupid or gullible person.
Words formed from woodcock
- Amami woodcock
- American woodcock
- Bukidnon woodcock
- Eurasian woodcock
- Javan woodcock
- Moluccan woodcock
- New Guinea woodcock
- Scotch woodcock
- Sulawesi woodcock
Questions about woodcock
- What does woodcock mean?
- Woodcock means any of several wading birds in the genus Scolopax, characterised by a long slender bill and cryptic brown and blackish plumage.
- What is woodcock in Tamil?
- Woodcock in Tamil is ஆங்கிலப்பெயர் (āṅkilappeyar). See Woodcock meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is woodcock?
- Woodcock can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce woodcock?
- Woodcock is pronounced /ˈwʊd.kɒk/.
- What is the plural of woodcock?
- The plural of woodcock is woodcock.
Words near woodcock in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: woodcock (page history and authors); Woodcock (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-woodcock.wav.
Cite this entry: “woodcock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/woodcock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.