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Showing results for woodshed. Search instead for woodshedding.

woodshed

American  
[wood-shed] / ˈwʊdˌʃɛd /

noun

  1. a shed for storing wood for fuel.


verb (used without object)

woodshedded, woodshedding
  1. Slang. to practice a musical instrument assiduously and with a specific goal in mind.

    He's woodshedding for next week's show.

woodshed British  
/ ˈwʊdˌʃɛd /

noun

  1. a small outbuilding where firewood, garden tools, etc, are stored

"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

Etymology

Origin of woodshed

First recorded in 1835–45; wood 1 + shed 1


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.

See Examples For:

In 1886, Charles Martin Hall, a 22-year-old working in the woodshed behind his parents’ home in Oberlin, Ohio, had figured out how to mass produce it inexpensively using electric currents.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026

Trex stock got taken behind the PVC woodshed.

From Barron's ● Nov. 7, 2025

They don’t just lose home nailbiters, they get taken to the woodshed.

From Seattle Times ● May 10, 2023

The army of do-it-yourself small investors who stormed into the market early in 2021, when it seemed to be the only entertainment venue still open, have been ushered to the woodshed.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2022

Any lingering resentment I might have still been harboring against Marlene vanished during that first night in the woodshed.

From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo

Recording at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany, where the Beatles had woodshedded, Lewis’s youthful energy was stoked by a screaming, whistling crowd.

From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2022

During his downtime, the Brooklyn native did songwriting woodshedding by taking deep dives into the catalogs of composers ranging from Neil Young to Burt Bacharach and exploring a myriad soundtracks from Hollywood’s Golden Age.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 2, 2022

As he and his cohorts started to make music, they imposed an impressive discipline on themselves, doing two or three years of woodshedding at DJ Muggs’s home before seeking out a recording deal.

From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2022

Coleman agreed that Rollins was likely doing more than just woodshedding.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 5, 2017

She actually had been woodshedding for about three months.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 19, 2015

Naturally, woodshedding is considered a complex form of quartet work, since it calls for correct harmony and a working repertory of dozens of songs.

From Time Magazine Archive

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