Forms: α. 1, 3, 4–6 Sc. wald, 5 walde, 7– dial. waud, 8 dial. wadd, 9 Sc. wauld. β. 3– wold, 4–6 wolde, 5–8 would, 7 wowld, pl. woles, 8 woald. γ. 6–7 old, 7 ould. See also WEALD. [Com. Teut. (not extant in Gothic): OE. (Anglian) wald (WS. weald: see WEALD) str. masc. forest, wooded country OFris. wald forest, MDu. wout, woud- (Du. woud), OS. wald forest, ? wilderness (MLG., LG. wold), OHG. wald forest, wilderness (MHG. walt, wald- forest, wood, timber, G. wald forest), ON. völlr untilled field, plain (Sw. vall pasture, Norw. voll grassy plain):—OTeut. *walþuz, of which the ulterior relations are doubtful. (From Teut. is derived OF. gua(l)d woodland, scrub, untilled land, whence gaudine bower, grove.)
After the early 16th cent., the word ceased to be in general use and became restricted to localities in which it entered into the proper designation of characteristic tracts of country, probably at one time thickly wooded; thence arose the general literary (esp. poetical) use defined in sense 3.]
† 1. Forest, forest land; wooded upland. Obs.
786. in Birch, Cartul. Sax. (1885), I. 344. In limen wero wealdo, & in burh waro uualdo.
a. 1000. Judith, 206. Þæs se hlanca ʓefeah wulf in walde.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 10. Wilde deor þet on þeos wilde waldes wunieð.
c. 1300. in Stow, Surv. Lond. (ed. Strype, 1755), II. 280/2, marg. Fabri de Waldis.
? 13[?]. in Somner, Roman Ports & Forts Kent (1693), 110. Septem Dennas in sylva quæ vocatur Wald. Ibid., 113. Homines quoque de Walda debent unam domum æstivalem quod Anglicè dicitur Sumerhus, aut xx solidos dare.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 3799. Þai droȝe furth be dissert & drinkles þai spill, Was nouthire waldis in þar walke ne water to fynde.
† 2. A hill, down. Obs.
c. 1205. Lay., 21530. Childric com sone ouer wald liðen [later text ouer dounes wende]. Ibid., 25758. Na whit heo ne funden quikes uppen wolden [later text vp þan hulle].
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 938. Ðre der he toc, ilc ðre ȝer hold, And sacrede god on an wold.
c. 1275. Passion our Lord, 27, in O. E. Misc., 38. Þe holy gost hyne ledde vp into þe wolde For to beon yuonded of sathanas.
1483. Cath. Angl., 406/2. Ye Walde, alpina.
a. 1500. Cov. Corpus Chr. Plays, 15/436. Hereby apon a wolde Scheppardis wachyng there fold.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, X. xiii. 11. The travellour ȝond vnder the wald Lurkand wythdrawis to sum sovir hald.
[1590. Camden, Britannia, 279. Cotswold … Montes enim & colles Woulds olim dixerunt Angli, vnde Glossarium antiquum Alpes Italiæ The Woulds of Italie interpretatur.]
3. A piece of open country; a plain; in early use (with the) sometimes = ‘the plain,’ the ground, the earth; in later use chiefly, an elevated tract of open country or moorland; also collect. pl. or sing. rolling uplands. (Frequent since c. 1600 in vague poetical use.)
c. 1205. Lay., 10001. Stod þe wundliche wude amidden ane wælde [later text wolde]. Ibid., 16461. Hengest bah a þene wald [later text Hii wende in to þan felde]. Ibid., 20842. Þenne he bið baldest ufenan þan walde.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 606. Elpes … to-gaddre gon o wolde, So sep ðat cumen ut of folde. Ibid., 757. Ilk der ðe him hereð to him cumeð, And foleȝeð him up one ðe wold.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XVIII. 555. Thair fayis, vith thair mycht, noyand, Quhill to the wald cummyn war thai. Syne northwarde tuk thai hame thar way, And distroyit, in thair repair, The vale haly of Beauvare.
1425. in Rep. MSS. Ld. Middleton (1911), 107. No man with comyn herd ne with sched herd com on the wold after gresse be mowen to it be maked and led away.
c. 1425. Cast. Persev., 826, in Macro Plays, 102. Whyl he walkyth in worldly wolde, I, Bakbyter, am with hym holde.
1471. Hist. Arrivall Edw. IV. (Camden, 1838), 26. Aboute that place was a great and a fayre large playne, called a would.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IX. xi. 13. Rane … dois smyte apon the wald [orig. humum].
1538. Starkey, England (1878), 73. The wast groundys (as hethys, forestys, parkys and oldys).
1587. Harrison, England, II. xix. 206, in Holinshed. This may suffice for the vse of the word Wald, which now differeth much from Wold. For as that signifieth a woodie soile, so this betokeneh a soile without wood, or plaine champaine countrie, without anie store of trees.
1605. Shaks., Lear, III. iv. 125. Swithold footed thrice the old.
1636. W. Denny, in Ann. Dubrensia (1877), 76. Faire fleec’d Sheepe, which beautifie the Woulds.
1740. Somerville, Hobbinol, I. 237. On the bleak Woald the new-born Infant lay, Expos’d to Winter Snows.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., IV. xiii. Or who may dare on wold to wear The fairies’ fatal green?
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., II. lxix. Till he … from his further bank Ætolia’s wolds espied.
1832. Tennyson, To J. S., i. The wind, that beats the mountain, blows More softly round the open wold.
a. 1845. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Ser. III. Blasphemer’s Warn., 5. With broad lands, pasture, arable, woodland, and wold.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., Prel. Between the forests were open wolds.
1905. A. C. Benson, Thread of Gold, iii. Beyond all ran the long, pure line of the rising wold.
b. fig.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Pilgrimage, iii. That led me to the wilde of passion, which Some call the wold.
a. 1640. Jackson, Creed, X. Notes to xxxi. 3141. Though I have cut up in the Wolds of Gentilism, and layd together a Turf or two.
1877. L. Morris, Epic of Hades, II. 117. The thick-leaved coverts deep And wind-worn wolds of life.
c. in alliterative conjunction with wood (occas. with waste, wild).
1813. Scott, Trierm., I. xi. On vent’rous quest to ride,… by wood and wold. Ibid. (1821), Pirate, xxvi. On they went, through wild and over wold.
1847. Longf., Ev., II. iv. The notes of the robin … Sounded sweet upon wold and in wood.
1896. J. Davidson, Fleet St. Eclogues, Ser. II. 70. And waste and wold Took heart and shone.
4. Used in the specific designations of certain hilly tracts in England, viz. the hill country of the East and North Ridings (Yorkshire Wolds, † York(e)swold, † York-wolds), the Cotswold district, the hilly districts of Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.
1472–5. Rolls of Parlt., VI. 157/2. Fell called Shorlyng and Morlyng, growyng in Yorkeswold.
1548. N. Country Wills (Surtees, 1908), 202. My manor in Willoughby upon the woldes.
1596. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (ed. 2), 408. Those large champaignes of Yorkswold, and Cotswolde.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 523. Part of it [sc. Leicestershire] is called the Wold, as being hilly without wood.
1622. Drayton, Poly-olb., xxvi. Argt., Tow’rds Lester then her course she holds, And sailing o’er the pleasant Oulds, She fetcheth Soare down from her springs.
1622. W. Burton, Leicestersh., 296. Waltham on the Wouldes.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 28. Most of the grasse that groweth on the landes, and especially on the leyes of the wolds, is a small, sparrie, and dry grasse.
1669. Phil. Trans., IV. 1012. In some wooddy parts of the Woles in Lincoln-shire.
1697. Meriton, Praise York-sh. Ale (ed. 3), 80 (East-Riding Yorks.). For Wolds or Woulds [they say] Wauds.
1725. MSS. Dk. Portland (Hist. MSS. Comm.), VI. 95. The Yorkshire Wolds, called here the Wadds.
1778. Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2), s.v. Yorkshire, A large tract called the York-Woulds.
1891. S. C. Scrivener, Our Fields & Cities, 20. The north of Lincolnshire is … high and dry. It is called the ‘Wold’; but that does not mean big stones and heather. The Wold is not a moor; it is a succession of good turnip fields.
5. attrib. and Comb., as wold-dweller, -fire, -hill, -land; wold-like adj.; wold-mouse, a vole; woldsman, a dweller in the wolds.
1907. M. C. F. Morris, Nunburnholme, 12. The early *Wold-dwellers probably were not so wealthy as those living in the sougt of England under somewhat similar conditions.
1813. Hogg, Queen’s Wake, II. (1814), 147. Like *wold-fire, at midnight, that glares on the waste.
1850. ‘Sylvanus,’ Bye-lanes & Downs, Introd. p. ix. A view of pastures, turnip and corn-fields, and *wold-hills, terminating in a distant glimpse of the ocean.
1799. View Agric. Lincoln., 12. The *wold land about Louth.
1848. Lytton, Harold, I. iii. Lands … wild and *wold-like.
1892. Daily News, 18 Nov., 5/1. Ravaged by innumerable multitudes of voles, or *‘wold-mice.’
1765. Museum Rust., IV. xxx. 138. I am told by the experienced *woldsmen, that there is as great difference as possible in the neatness of the making up the sheaves.
1895. Naturalist, 322. The Louth woldsmen were in the habit of attending Lincoln [market].
Hence Wolder in Yorkshire wolder, an inhabitant of the Yorkshire wolds.
1765. Museum Rust., IV. xxx. 139. The experience of our Yorkshire wolders.
