woodcock

American  

[wood-kok] / ˈwʊdˌkɒk /

noun

plural

woodcocks,

plural

woodcock

1. either of two plump, short-legged migratory game birds of variegated brown plumage, the Eurasian Scolopax rusticola and the smaller American Philohela minor.

2. any of various pileated or ivory-billed woodpeckers.

3. Archaic. a simpleton.

---

woodcock British  

/ ˈwʊdˌkɒk /

noun

1. an Old World game bird, Scolopax rusticola, resembling the snipe but larger and having shorter legs and neck: family Scolopacidae (sandpipers, etc), order Charadriiformes

2. a related North American bird, Philohela minor

3. obsolete a simpleton

---

Etymology

Origin of woodcock

before 1050; Middle English wodecok, Old English wuducoc. See wood ¹, cock ¹

Example Sentences

Another evolutionary driver of itinerant breeding in woodcock could be predation.

From Science Daily • Apr. 19, 2024

In the spring and the fall, the American woodcock often makes an appearance.

From New York Times • Jun. 6, 2023

A bird conservation charity said it had been locked out of its Twitter account for eight days after posting several tweets about woodcock.

From BBC • Jan. 31, 2023

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

The consequences of the sublethal poisoning of the woodcock are now seen in a marked decline in the proportion of young birds to adults, first observed in the season after fire ant treatments began.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson