▪ I. woodward, n. Hist.
(ˈwʊdwəd)
Forms: see wood n.1; also 6 wodwarte, 7 wooddard.
[Late OE. wuduweard, f. wood n.1 + ward n.1 Survives as a surname in the forms Woodward and Woodard.]
The keeper of a wood; an officer of a wood or forest, having charge of the growing timber.
| c 1050 Rect. Sing. Pers. §19 (Liebermann 452) Wuduwearde ᵹebyreð ælc windfylled treow. 1290 Rolls of Parlt. I. 26/1 Wodewardos & proprios Forestar' ac Ministros Boscorum suorum predictorum. 1324–5 Ibid. 422/2 Le Wodeward Sire Johan de Brakenbery. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 531/2 Wodewarde, or walkare in a wode for kepynge, lucarius. 1495 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 466/1 The Office of Woodwarde within the Countie of Caernarvan. 1563 Bp. Sandys in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. xxxv. 356 [He] is now my tenant and my bailiff and woodward of my manour. 1570 Levins Manip. 33/43 A Wodwarte, saltuarius. 1619 T. Clay Chorol. Disc. 25 The Wood-ward is..an Officer of Charge, vnto whose care and trust, the custodie of the Lords Woods, and Receipt of the profits arising out of the same, are chiefly committed. 1638 Whiting Albino & Bellama 109 The wooddards greene with Tyrian dye was dight. a 1647 Habington Surv. Worc. (Worc. Hist. Soc. Proc.) I. 454 Heerevppon dyd the Byshop of Worcester appoynt hys servant to bee hys woodward in Wenlond, and within the chase of Maluern. 1710 Brit. Apollo III. No. 119. 4/1 James Worseley, Esq.; is made Woodward of the New Forest. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 361 My woodward assures me, that windy weather makes the sap rise much sooner in trees than it would otherwise do. 1791 W. Gilpin Forest Scenery II. 20 The first officer [of the New Forest], under the lord-warden, is the woodward..Under the woodward are twelve regarders. 1871 Daily News 21 Sept., The under-keeper of the Loughton and Theydon Walks, gave evidence..that the..Lord of the Manor of Loughton had enclosed a thousand acres of the public land,..and that his woodward..had cut down several thousand trees. |
¶ Used for woodwose.
| 1488 Acc. Ld. H. Treas. Scot. I. 82 A wodward of gold with a diamant. 1552 Elyot's Dict., Cæpus, a beast in face like a Satyre, or woodward. 1566 in J. Nicholl Comp. Ironmongers (1866) 90 Hewe Watts and Xp̃ofer Beckes, Wadwardes, or Ivemen. |
b. As the title of an officer of the ‘Ancient Order of Foresters’.
| 1886 Rules Court No. 2991 Foresters No. 22 The Woodwards shall visit the sick members..once a week. |
Hence † ˈwoodwardship, the office of woodward.
| 1418 in 41st Dep. Kpr.'s Rep. 700 [The] Wodewardships [of the commotes of Penthlyn and Thalepont, Merionethshire]. 1485 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 379/1 The Office of Keping of the Parke of Haseley, with the Wodewardship. 1586–7 in H. Hall Soc. Eliz. Age (1886) 242 Mr. Inkpen..sold him the woodwardship of that manor for 33/4. 1640 in Jrnls. Ho. Comm. XLIII. 589/1 The..best Ship Timber there within the Wood-Wardship of Cesar Robert, Esquire. |
▪ II. woodward, -wards, adv. rare.
(ˈwʊdwəd(z)
[f. wood n.1 + -wardss.]
Towards or to the wood. † from the woodward: away from the wood.
| 1621 Lady M. Wroth Urania 238 An other Lady..running from the Wood-ward. a 1849 J. C. Mangan Poems (1859) 371 Rury rode woodwards. 1893 N. Gale Country Muse Ser. ii. 9 When the hush..brings the pigeons woodward. |