woodcock

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See also: Woodcock

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English wodecocke, wode-koc, wodekok, from Old English wudecocc, wuducoc, equivalent to wood +‎ cock.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

woodcock (plural woodcock or woodcocks)

A woodcock and its lunch, an earthworm.
  1. 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[.]"
  2. A simpleton.

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

  • roding, the patrolling flight pattern of the woodcock.

Translations[edit]