woodcock
Americannoun
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either of two plump, short-legged migratory game birds of variegated brown plumage, the Eurasian Scolopax rusticola and the smaller American Philohela minor.
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any of various pileated or ivory-billed woodpeckers.
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Archaic. a simpleton.
noun
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an Old World game bird, Scolopax rusticola, resembling the snipe but larger and having shorter legs and neck: family Scolopacidae (sandpipers, etc), order Charadriiformes
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a related North American bird, Philohela minor
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obsolete a simpleton
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of woodcock
before 1050; Middle English wodecok, Old English wuducoc. See wood 1, cock 1
Vocabulary lists containing woodcock
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
New Yorkers can’t get enough of the strutting woodcock.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 9, 2026
Another evolutionary driver of itinerant breeding in woodcock could be predation.
From Science Daily • Apr. 19, 2024
It was hoped species such as lapwing, redshank and woodcock would find a haven in the wet woodland, while otters and water voles would use the restored network of waterways as corridors and breeding habitat.
From BBC • Feb. 14, 2024
They concluded the woodcock gets its brilliance from the microscopic structure of tiny barbs arranged in parallel like window blinds, increasing the feathers’ reflective surface area.
From Science Magazine • Dec. 21, 2022
Two significant discoveries have now been made about the woodcock.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
