woodpecker

[ wood-pek-er ]

/ ˈwʊdˌpɛk ər /

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noun

any of numerous climbing birds of the family Picidae, having a hard, chisel-like bill that it hammers repeatedly into wood in search of insects, stiff tail feathers to assist in climbing, and usually more or less boldly patterned plumage.

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Origin of woodpecker

First recorded in 1520–30; wood¹ + pecker

Words nearby woodpecker

wood mouse, woodnote, wood nymph, wood opal, wood owl, woodpecker, wood pewee, wood pigeon, woodpile, wood pitch, wood preservative

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use woodpecker in a sentence

If you’re protecting an old-growth swamp forest in Louisiana because you think it’s home to ivory-billed woodpeckers, for example, other species will likely benefit — whether or not the bird itself still exists.
What “extinction” really means — and what it leaves out|Benji Jones|September 30, 2021|Vox
You might think it’s some Satanic ritual, but in reality, it’s the handiwork of an 8-inch-long woodpecker and its kin.
Polygamy is just one reason why acorn woodpeckers are master survivalists|Purbita Saha|August 21, 2021|Popular-Science
I’ve seen profusions of woodpeckers feasting on insects in dead trees.
At Glacier’s Edge, the Flames Have Always Come for My Family Cabin|jversteegh|August 20, 2021|Outside Online
Some birds, such as the red-cockaded woodpecker and California condor, are critically endangered.
Around the world, birds are in crisis|Alison Pearce Stevens|December 3, 2020|Science News For Students

It’s hard to say just how closely related Microraptor might have been to woodpecker ancestors, Gramling says.
Readers ask about Microraptors, an X-ray map of the sky and more|Science News Staff|September 20, 2020|Science News
The Texas native blasted the crew for being “hard as woodpecker lips.”
This is how Delta Air Lines Treats Disabled Veterans|Justin Green|December 14, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Centurus aurifrons dubius (Cabot): Golden-fronted Woodpecker.
Summer Birds From the Yucatan Peninsula|Erwin E. Klaas
Parvulorum, the wodewale is identified with the wodehake, woodpecker; whilst Hexham explains Du.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 (of 7) -- Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems|Geoffrey Chaucer
The birds were singing, black squirrels were jumping from bough to bough, and they could hear the tapping of the woodpecker.
Mrs. Falchion, Complete|Gilbert Parker
As it passed out of the chimney, the soot left those long streaks of black which we see now on the woodpecker's back.
Stories the Iroquois Tell Their Children|Mabel Powers
In the summer, they fished and swam in Singing River, and they shot their arrows into chipmunk and woodpecker holes.
Stories the Iroquois Tell Their Children|Mabel Powers

British Dictionary definitions for woodpecker

woodpecker

/ (ˈwʊdˌpɛkə) /

noun

any climbing bird of the family Picidae, typically having a brightly coloured plumage and strong chisel-like bill with which they bore into trees for insects: order Piciformes

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012