woodcock
Americannoun
plural
woodcocks,plural
woodcock-
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
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
The woodcock, also known as the timberdoodle, can be spotted on the ground beneath shrubbery, doing a groovy little dance.
From New York Times • Jun. 6, 2023
In the clear light of day, the Eurasian woodcock doesn’t stand out.
From Science Magazine • Dec. 21, 2022
For dinner we had a woodcock with souffle potatoes and puree de marron, a salad, and zabaione for dessert.
From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
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.
