▪ I. paddock, n.1
(ˈpædək)
(Also Sc. 9 poddock, 8–9 puddock.)
[f. pad n.1 + dimin. suffix -ock.]
1. A frog. (Now Sc. and north. dial.)
| c 1350 in Rel. Ant. I. 8 Rana, a paddoke. 1388 Wyclif Exod. viii. 2, 3, Y schal smyte alle thi termys with paddoks [1382 frogges]; and the flood schal buyle out paddokis [1382 froggis]. 1530 Palsgr. 502/2 My bely crowleth, I wene there be some padockes in it,..des grenouilles dedans. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 725 There be three kindes of Frogs..the first is the little green Frog: the second is this Padock, having a crook back..and the third is the Toad. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 812 The Water-Snake, whom Fish and Paddocks fed. 1724 Ramsay Health 65 Bak'd puddock's legs. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Paddick, or Paddock, a frog... Never a toad. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xii. 126/1 Are we eels or puddocks, that we are sent to live in a loch? |
† b. A toad.
Obs. (
exc. as literary archaism.)
| 13.. K. Alis. 6126 Evetis, and snakes, and paddokes brode,..Al vermyn they eteth. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paulus) 750 Þan þai..a padok gert hym drink in hy. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 376/2 Paddok, toode, bufo. 1530 Palsgr. 250/2 Paddocke, crapavlt. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Dec. 70 The grieslie Todestoole..And loathed Paddocks lording on the same. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Paddock,..a Toad. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 240 O'er his head the bat Hung, and the paddock on the hearth-stone sat. |
c. transf. Applied in obloquy to a person.
In
quot. 1605 a familiar spirit in the shape of a toad?
| a 1450 Cov. Myst. xvii. (1841) 164, I xal prune that paddok [= frog], and prevyn hym as a pad [= toad]. 1563 Winȝet Wks. (1890) II. 31 Certane padokis, filthy verming,..of the quhilk sort are the Pelagianis. 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. i. 9 Padock calls anon: faire is foule, and foule is faire. 1893 Stevenson Catriona xv. 174 But there was grandfaither's siller tester in the puddock's heart of him. |
2. A kind of rude sledge used for carrying large stones.
Sc.| 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl., Paddock,..a machine shaped like a frog, for carrying large stones. 1825–80 in Jamieson. 1887 Bulloch Pynours vi, The slip, sled, or paddock came into use. It was a sort of strong wooden cradle. |
3. attrib. and
Comb. (chiefly
dial.), as
paddock-brood,
paddock-face;
paddock-cheese = paddock-stool;
paddock-hair, the soft down or hair on unfledged birds and on new-born babies;
paddock-pipe, a species of
Equisetum (Horse-tail),
esp. E. limosum; also Mare's Tail,
Hippuris vulgaris;
paddock-ride,
-rod,
-rud,
-spew, frogs' or toads' spawn;
paddock-spindle,
Orchis mascula (Britten &
Holl.);
paddock-stone = toad-stone;
paddock-stool = toadstool n.| a 1627 Middleton Witch i. ii, Here's a spawn or two Of the same *paddock-brood. |
| 14.. Harl. MS. 1002, lf. 144 b/2 Hic boletus, a *padokchese. |
| 1724 Ramsay Vision xxi, Batavius, with his *paddock-face. |
| 1827 Taylor Poems 67 (E.D.D.), I foun' sax bare wee things Wi' *paddock hair upon their wings. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. i. vi. (1849) 17 For nearly thirteen years I had sat on my hunkers in the paddock hair, under the wing of a kind parent. |
| 1673 Wedderburn's Vocab. 18 (Jam.) Aequisetum, a *paddock-pipe. 1778 Lightfoot Flora Scotica (1792) 648 Marsh Horse-tail,..Paddock-pipe. |
| 1720 Ramsay Rise & Fall of Stocks 114 A shot starn..found neist day on hillock side, Na better seems nor *paddock ride. [Cf. jelly n.1 2 b; fallen star s.v. fallen ppl. a.] |
| 1508 Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 342 And thou come, Fule! in Marche or Februere, Thair till a pule, and drank the *paddok rod [v.rr. rude, roid]. |
| 1488 Inv. R. Wardrobe (1815) 10 Item a ring with a *paddokstane, with a charnale. 1700 E. Lhwyd in Rowlands Mona Antiqua (1723) 338 Besides the Snake-stones..the Highlanders have their Snail-Stones, Paddoc-Stones..etc. to all which they attribute their several Virtues. |
| c 1450 Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.) 70/7 Fungus agaricus crescit in arboribus..*paddoc⁓stol. 1483 Cath. Angl. 265/2 A Paddokstole, boletus, fungus..asparagus. 1787 Burns Verses written at Selkirk iv, Now gawkies, tawpies, gowks, and fools,..May sprout like simmer puddock-stools. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. s.v. Hillfowk, As rotten as a yellow puddock stool. |
Hence
ˈpaddocky a., abounding in frogs.
| 1828 J. Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXIV. 284 Over all the water-cressy and puddocky ditches. |
▪ II. paddock, n.2 (
ˈpædək)
Also 7
puddock.
[app. a phonetic alteration of parrock: cf. poddish for porridge, etc.] 1. a. A small field or enclosure; usually a plot of pasture-land adjoining or near a house or stable.
| [1547 in Hunter Biggar & Ho. Fleming xxiv. (1862) 312 Item in the Boghall, that draws in plough and paddock xiij oxin.] 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d' Alf. i. 82 A fierce Bull, which..they had let out of the Paddok. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 330 A Puddock, or Purrock; a small Inclosure. 1759 Wesley Wks. (1872) II. 471 A rude multitude quickly ran together, to a paddock adjoining to the town. 1872 Youatt Horse iv. (ed. 4) 86 Let him [the hunter] therefore have his paddock as well as his loose box. 1885 M. E. Braddon Wyllard's Weird I. ii. 69 There was only the extent of a wide paddock and a lawn between the hall-door and that grand old gateway. |
b. spec. Such an enclosure forming part of a stud farm.
| 1856 H. H. Dixon Post & Paddock iii. 59 For downright breeding..Rawcliffe Paddocks quite bear the palm. Ibid. 62 The strength of the pasturage, and the beautiful combination of hill and dale make these paddocks a perfect paradise for blood-mares and foals. 1894 G. Armatage Horse viii. 115 The colt may be mounted in the paddock. |
c. In Australia and New Zealand, any field or piece of land enclosed by fencing, irrespective of size or land use.
| 1822 J. Dixon Narr. Voy. New South Wales 58, I saw a few paddocks of clover and English grasses, in as good condition as I have seen the same fields in England. 1832 J. Bischoff Van Diemen's Land vi. 148 There is one paddock of 100 acres, fenced on four sides. 1847 A. Harris Settlers & Convicts xiv. 279 In ten months' time from their occupying the farm, there was one of the sides of a paddock fence put up. 1869 Townend Remin. Australia 180 The church..stood by itself in the middle of a paddock. 1873 Trollope Austral. & N.Z. II. xxiii. 368 Vast paddocks containing perhaps 20,000 acres each. 1881 Gentl. Mag. Jan. 67 The bullock paddock..contained 6000 acres, and was securely fenced in with the usual post and rails. 1891 ‘Coo-ee’, Tales Austral. Life 121 The fields, or paddocks, as they call them here [in Australia], were pretty. 1900 F. Campbell Three Moons 314 Mrs. Tredwin cantering across the ten-mile paddock. 1911 C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling i. 7 The Western Division is inhabited—indeed it is all fenced into paddocks. 1916 J. B. Cooper Coo-oo-ee ix. 115 Sandy was in his pumpkin paddock (‘pumpkins were the things to feed pigs on’). 1924 H. T. Gibson That Gibbie Galoot xv. 56 By the way, you Colonials call a field a paddock, or more often a paddeck. 1930 L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs (ser. 1) i. 7 In the early sixties..expense and the scarcity of water prevented much sub-division into paddocks on most of the plains stations. 1937 ‘W. Hatfield’ I find Australia iv. 59 The ‘horse-paddock’ near the homestead was eight miles by eight, and that wasn't a big ‘paddock’. 1957 N.Z. Listener 22 Nov. 4/3 ‘Creek’ and ‘paddock’ are New Zealandisms, because they mean something quite different in the English of England. It is of some significance that Katherine Mansfield uses both words only in their New Zealand sense. 1962 J. Frame Edge of Alphabet xv. 81 With the gate into the field (they call it paddock) shut. 1963 B. Pearson Coal Flat xvii. 310 In the lush paddocks on the river flat, a few prosperous farmers ran sheep. 1968 K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 7 In the forty-five-thousand-acre paddock at the bottom of the rocky hill country the rains have scoured great washouts in the slopes. 1977 National Times (Austral.) 17 Jan. 16/4 (Advt.), Lot 7: Homestead Block: 166.05 ha (410 acres) Freehold, gently undulating country running down to river, subdivided into 9 paddocks. |
d. fig.| 1841–4 Emerson Ess., Nature Wks. (Bohn) I. 226 Estates of romance, compared with which their actual possessions are shanties and paddocks. 1875 Dowden Shaks. 22 Keble was born and bred in the Anglican paddock. 1880 G. Meredith Tragic Com. (1881) 21 A country where literature is confined to its little paddock, without influence on the larger field..of the social world. |
2. spec. a. (See
quots.)
| 1678 Phillips, Paddock,..a walk or division in a Park. 1706 Ibid., Paddock or Paddock-course, a place in a Park pal'd in very narrow on both sides, for Hounds or Gray⁓hounds to run Matches. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell) i, A paddock in a park, septum, circus venatorius. |
b. Horse-racing. A turf enclosure near the race-course, where the horses and jockeys are assembled in preparation for the race.
| 1862 All Yr. Round Mar. 29 Three and thirty thorough⁓bred colts have dipped down from the paddock to the post. 1881 Daily News 2 June 5 The genuine public..drove thoughtlessly past the paddock..and disposed itself either in the cords near the winning-post or on the slope of the hill. |
3. Mining. (
Colonial.)
a. An open excavation in a superficial deposit.
b. A store-place for ore, etc.
| 1862 Otago: Goldfields & Resources 34 Sod walls.. are largely used in making dams and ‘paddocks’. 1869 R. B. Smyth Gloss. Mining Terms, Paddock, an excavation made for procuring washdirt in shallow ground. A place built near the mouth of a shaft where quartz or washdirt is stored. 1874 A. Bathgate Colonial Experiences viii. 93 This process is carried on for months, the tail-race being prolonged into the space from which the ground has been washed away, until a larger hole or ‘paddock’ is taken out, with precipitous sides, varying in height from a couple of feet to two hundred or more. 1876 W. J. J. Spry Cruise Challenger vi. (ed. 7) 85 Next the lime tufa was bored into, and now large ‘paddocks’ are sunk to a depth of over 20 feet in the decomposed igneous rock. 1895 Otago Witness 21 Nov. 22/5 (Morris) A paddock was opened at the top of the beach, but rock-bottom was found. |
4. attrib., as
paddock-course,
paddock-critic,
paddock fence,
paddock-gate,
paddock sheet.
paddock-grazing, in dairy farming, a method of pasture management developed by the French farmer, André Voisin, in which several fields are used in rotation; hence, as a back-formation,
paddock-graze v. trans.| 1704 F. Fuller Med. Gymn. (1711) 234 Horses run without Riders upon 'em something after the manner of a Paddock-Course. 1707 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. iii. vii. 313 The Nobility and Gentry have their..Paddock Courses, Horse-Rases [etc.]. |
| 1897 Daily News 21 June 10/6 His brilliant form..made a great impression upon the paddock critics. |
| 1864 R. Henning Let. 4 Mar. (1966) 156 The ‘Station Creek’..came down a roaring river..and swept down with it the whole of the paddock fence which crossed its bed, though it was built in that part of entire trunks of trees. |
| 1800 E. Hervey Mourtray Fam. I. 109 They were within a hundred yards of the paddock gate. 1908 E. J. Banfield Confessions of Beachcomber ii. iii. 326 The tribe cut off the iron bracing from the paddock gates. 1911 C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling i. 11 The coach had stopped at a paddock gate. |
| 1969 ‘J. Ashford’ Prisoner at Bar v. 37 A herd of Frisians were paddock-grazing the nearest fields. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 16 Feb. 77/3 It was no use introducing strip- or paddock-grazing unless this was accompanied by a marked increase in stocking. 1962 K. N. Russell Fishwick's Dairy Farming (ed. 3) ii. 228 This..is the gospel according to Voisin, whose system of rotational paddock grazing Mr. Pearson has recently adopted. 1970 C. S. Barnard et al. Milk Production xv. 240 Paddock grazing is an alternative to strip grazing which obviates the daily task of moving electric fences. Semi-permanent fences are erected to create paddocks of a size and number that enable fresh grazing to be offered every 1–7 days. 1970 R. Jeffries Dead Man's Bluff ix. 85 The bloke who invented paddock grazing knew a thing or two. 1971 Power Farming Mar. 40/2 Paddock grazing is the modern way to really efficient grassland management. It enables grass to be accurately rationed ensuring that each cow has the correct intake of highly nutritious herbage, resulting in increased milk yield per acre and improved milk quality. 1975 Country Life 26 June 1702/3 Modern paddock-grazing owes much to the work of ICI..pioneers of the one-day, 21-paddock, two-sward system. |
| 1963 E. H. Edwards Saddlery xxi. 160 The everyday exercise sheets..are the same shape as a paddock sheet, but usually a few inches larger. 1977 Horse & Hound 10 June 28/1 (Advt.), Coloured Rollers, For day rugs or paddock sheets. |
Add:
[2.] c. Hence
transf. in
Motor-racing.
orig. U.S.| 1909 in Webster. 1910 Indianapolis Star 22 May 11/7 Two long blasts call cars from paddocks to tape for next event. 1935 B. Lyndon Grand Prix vii. 151 While some cars were being warmed up in the paddock, Lord Howe unveiled a tablet. 1947 C. Chakrabong Blue & Yellow i. 20 As they roared past the Paddock they were still in a mass. 1969 ‘D. Rutherford’ Gilt-Edged Cockpit xii. 211 After five laps they..drove round to the paddock. 1987 Autosport 28 May 43/4 A meagre field of just 23 cars occupied the barren paddock for the start of qualifying. |
▪ III. ˈpaddock, v. [f. paddock n.2] 1. trans. a. To enclose or fence in (a sheep-run, etc.) (
Australia).
b. To shut up or enclose in or as in a paddock.
| 1873 Trollope Australia I. xx. 302 When a run is ‘paddocked’ shepherds are not required;—but boundary-riders are employed. Ibid. II. xii. 214 The sheep are all ‘paddocked’,—that is, kept in by fences,—so that shepherding is unnecessary. 1873 [see paddocked ppl. a.]. 1884 T. Walden in Harper's Mag. LXIX. 433 Droves of oxen, sheep, and swine were paddocked close by. 1930 L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs (ser. 1) v. 111 He paddocked the sheep one night at the Rangitata Bridge. Ibid., Meaning to have breakfast at the hotel where his sheep were paddocked. 1941 Baker N.Z. Slang v. 40 To paddock land, to put up fences; to paddock stock, to put stock into a paddock. |
2. Mining. (
Colonial.) To store (ore, etc.) in a paddock (see
paddock n.2 3 b). Also, to excavate washdirt in shallow ground (see
paddock n.2 3 a);
occas. const. out.
| 1860 National Mag. VIII. 307/1 Those who have seen Chinamen at work ‘paddocking’ in the worn-out alluvial gold-diggings of Australia, can speak for their steady, untiring industry. 1863 V. Pyke in App. Jrnls. House Reps. N.Z. D. vi. 18 Many..who held river claims worked very successfully by wing dams, consisting of bags of sand laid into the stream, so as to cut off a portion of its bed, which, being drained by pumping, was paddocked out and passed through the cradle. 1899 N. Queensland Herald 8 Feb. 31 They have gathered and stacked surface stone till they have paddocked sufficient for a crushing in the mill yard. |
Hence
ˈpaddocked ppl. a.,
ˈpaddocking vbl. n.| 1873 Ranken Dom. Australia v. (1874) 91 This will completely loosen the little dirt found in paddocked sheep. 1881 A. C. Grant Bush-Life Queensland II. 175 Gathering up the paddocked horses, he caught and saddled his own and his master's. 1900 E. A. Hill (of N.S. Wales) in Birm. Weekly Post 25 Aug. 5/4 Paddocking was not universal, as is now the case. |