woodcock

woodcock, n.
  (ˈwʊdkɒk)
  Forms: see wood n.¹ and cock n.¹; also 2–3 wide cok, 4–5 wodekoc, 5 -kok, wodkoke, 6 wodkoce, Sc. widcoik.
  [Late OE. wudu-, wudecoc(c, f. wood n.¹ and cock n.¹ Appears in OF. as huitecox, witecos, videcos, etc., and in Norman dial. as videcoq.]
  1. a. A migratory bird, Scolopax rusticula, allied to the snipe, common in Europe and the British Islands, having a long bill, large eyes, and variegated plumage, and much esteemed as food. Also, the allied Philohela minor of N. America, similar in appearance and habits but smaller.
  Properly denoting the male bird, but commonly applied to both sexes; cf. wood-hen 1. In sportsman's use with collective pl. woodcock; cf. grouse, snipe, teal, etc.

c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 258/5 Acega, wuducoc. a 1100 Gloss. ibid. 132/20 Aceta, snite, uel wudecocc. 1273 Liber Cust. (Rolls) 82, ii wodecokes pro iii obolis. 1321 Ibid. 304 Le bon widecoke pur i denier. c 1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 164 Un arscye [gloss a wode-koc]. Ibid. 174 Assez [gloss wodekok]. 1347 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 41, ix pluuers, ij Wodekokes. c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 35 Þo crane schalle..be..Draȝun at þo syde as wodcockis. 1486 Bk. St. Albans, Hawking d i, The wodecok is comborous to sle: bot if ther be crafte. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1539) 30 Woodcockes, are of a good temperaunce, and metely lyghte in dygestion. 1538 Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1871) II. 92 A mure fowle viij d, a widcoik viij d. 1658 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 58 Send to the fouller and sie if he can get moor fowles or plivers or partridges or woodcokis. 1700 T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. 28 Mayors and Woodcocks come in about Michaelmas. 1768 Pennant Brit. Zool. II. 348 Woodcocks generally arrive here in flocks. 1819 Byron Juan ii. lxvii, He cannot live, like woodcocks, upon suction. 1872 Coues N. Amer. Birds 249 In woodcock and true snipe..the eye..is placed far back and high up. 1902 Buchan Watcher by Threshold 152 The woodcock are notoriously late.

  b. Applied to other birds.
  (a) Local name for the pileated woodpecker of N. America, also called log-cock. (b) little woodcock: = woodcock-snipe (see 4). (c) sea woodcock: see sea n. 23 c.

a 1813 A. Wilson Foresters Poet. Wks. (1846) 228 Crested wood-cocks hammer from on high. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 191 Great Snipe (Gallinago major)..Little woodcock, Woodcock snipe (Ireland). 1888 G. Trumbull Bird Names 151.

  2. In allusive use (from the ease with which the woodcock is taken in a snare or net), in reference to capture by some trickery, or as a type of gullibility or folly; hence applied to a person: a fool, simpleton, dupe. Obs. or arch.

c 1430 Lydg. in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 48 With wodcokkes, lerne for to dare. a 1500–34 Cov. Corp. Christi Pl. ii. 432 For, dame, woll I neuer vast my wyttis, To wayte or pry where the wodkoce syttis. 1533 More Debell. Salem Wks. 958/2 As though he trusted that all the worlde wer woodcockes saue himselfe. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse Apol. (Arb.) 72 Cupide sets vpp a Springe for Woodcockes, which are entangled ere they descrie the line. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 92 Now is the Woodcocke neere the gin. 1645 Milton Colast. Wks. 1851 IV. 376 This most incogitant woodcock. 1654 T. Washbourne Div. Poems 1 Or like the Wood-cock hide their heads, and then, 'Cause they see none, think none sees them agen. 1679 Hist. Jetzer 25 What have the wise Woodcocks of the Council to do with our Affairs? 1708 Brit. Apollo No. 3. 2/2 That he shou'd not, In his own Trade appear a Woodcock. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxxii, Poor woodcock, thou art snared! 1877 Tennyson Harold ii. ii, We hold our Saxon woodcock in the springe, But he begins to flutter.

  3. Various transferred uses. a. = woodcock-shell (see 4); more fully thorny woodcock. b. A variety of apple. c. = woodcock soil (see 4). d. Scotch woodcock: fancy name for a savoury dish: see quot.

a. 1815 S. Brookes Introd. Conchol. 157 Woodcock, Murex Haustellum. 1815 Burrow Elem. Conchol. 202 Murex Tribulus, Thorny Woodcock or Venus Comb.

b. 1700 Nourse Disc. Benefits Husb. x. 148 The Woodcock is a fair large Apple, and produces an excellent Cyder. 1803 Trans. Soc. Arts XXI. 262 The old pauson, woodcock, and red musk, are generally large apples.

c. 1764 Museum Rust. III. xlvii. 197 Our soils are, in general, either a loam, brick earth, or woodcock, and under them clay.

d. 1861 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. xxxiii. 822 (heading) Scotch woodcock. 1879 Birmingham Weekly Post 24 May 1/4 ‘Scotch Woodcock’..consists of hard boiled eggs chopped up, mixed with..anchovy sauce, and then laid on slices of hot buttered toast.

  4. attrib. and Comb., as woodcock-pie, woodcock-shooting; woodcock clay = woodcock soil; woodcock-eye, = snap-hook 2; woodcock-fish = snipe-fish 1; woodcock-fly, a fly used by anglers (see quot.); woodcock gun, a gun used for shooting woodcocks; woodcock owl, a local name for the short-eared owl; woodcock('s) pilot, a local name for the golden-crested wren (see quot. 1893); woodcock-shell, one of several species of Murex having a long spout resembling a woodcock's bill; woodcock-snipe, the great snipe, Scolopax major; woodcock soil, a loose soil consisting of a mixture of clay and gravel; woodcock wing, (a) the wing of a woodcock; (b) = woodcock fly.

1780 Young Tour Irel. II. 8 A hill..which is wet *woodcock clay.

1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) II. 155 Having the trace-rings..made with a screw, whereby they may be changed, and *woodcock eyes substituted in their place.

1880–4 Day Fishes Gt. Brit. & Irel. I. 250 Centriscus scolopax..The trumpet, bellows-fish, *woodcock or snipe-fish.

1787 Best Angling (ed. 2) 24 Oakfly, Ash-fly, or *Woodcock-fly, found on the body of an Oak or Ash..is a brownish fly and is taken from the beginning of May till the end of August.

1858 Greener Gunnery 205 If making *woodcock guns, less elevation is required, the distance of shooting being shorter.

1840 Macgillivray Brit. Birds III. 461 Asio brachyotos. The Streaked Tufted-Owl... *Woodcock Owl. Mouse-hawk.

1598 Mucedorus v. ii. 86 Now wee maie goe to breakefast with a *woodcoke pie. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 24 Dec. 11/1 Woodcock-pie is..a famous Christmas dish at the Palace.

1871 East Anglian IV. 112 ‘*Woodcock Pilot’. 1893 Newton Dict. Birds 368 The bird [sc. Golden-crested Wren] in autumn visits the east coast in enormous flocks,..they are well known to the fishermen as ‘Woodcock's Pilots,’ from their generally preceding by a few days the advent of those regular immigrants. 1907 Athenæum 11 May 570/2 The most interesting of these local terms is that of ‘woodcock pilot’, by which the goldcrest is known to all the wild fowlers.

1850 R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (1902) 98/1 Taking my breakfast..with as much indifference as if I were going *woodcock-shooting. 1885 *Woodcock snipe [see 1 b].

1764 Young in Museum Rust. III. lxiii. 284 Loose, *woodcock, brick-earth soils. 1775 N. Kent Hints to Gentl. 14 Woodcock-soil generally consists of yellow, or white clay, with a mixture of gravel; is seldom fruitful.

1535 Lyndesay Satyre 3528 Except God make me lichter nor ane fedder, Or send me doun gude *Widcok wingis to flie. 1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 7 Apr. 6/1 A bull trout..succumbs to the woodcock wing.

  Hence (nonce-wds.) ˈwoodcock v., intr. to act like a woodcock (see quot., and cf. quot. 1654 in 2 above); ˈwoodcockize v., trans. to make a ‘woodcock’ of, to befool.

1817 M. Edgeworth Ormond vi, Like all cunning people, he *woodcocks—hides his head, and forgets his body can be seen.

1611 Cotgr., Beccassé, gulled, abused, *woodcockised, make a woodcocke.

Oxford English Dictionary