sb. Forms: see WOOD sb.1 and COCK sb.1; also 2–3 wide cok, 4–5 wodekoc, 5 -kok, wodkoke, 6 wodkoce, Sc. widcoik. [Late OE. wudu-, wudecoc(c, f. WOOD sb.1 and COCK sb.1 Appears in OF. as huitecox, witecos, videcos, etc., and in Norman dial. as videcoq.]
1. A migratory bird, Scolopax rusticula, allied to the snipe, common in Europe and the British Islands, having a long bill, large eyes, and variegated plumage, and much esteemed as food. Also, the allied Philohela minor of N. America, similar in appearance and habits but smaller.
Properly denoting the male bird, but commonly applied to both sexes; cf. WOOD-HEN 1. In sportsman’s use with collective pl. woodcock; cf. grouse, snipe, teal, etc.
c. 1050. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 258/5. Acega, wuducoc.
a. 1100. Gloss. Ibid., 132/20. Aceta, snite, uel wudecocc.
1273. Liber Cust. (Rolls), 82. ii wodecokes pro iii obolis. Ibid. (1321), 304. Le bon widecoke pur i denier.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 164. Un arscye [gloss a wode-koc]. Ibid., 174. Assez [gloss wodekok].
1347. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 41. ix pluuers, ij Wodekokes.
c. 1420. Liber Cocorum (1862), 35. Þo crane schalle … be … Draȝun at þo syde as wodcockis.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Hawking, d i. The wodecok is comborous to sle: bot if ther be crafte.
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1539), 30. Woodcockes, are of a good temperaunce, and metely lyghte in dygestion.
1538. Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1871), II. 92. A mure fowle viij d, a widcoik viij d.
1658. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 58. Send to the fouller and sie if he can get moor fowles or plivers or partridges or woodcokis.
1700. T. Brown, trans. Fresny’s Amusem., 28. Mayors and Woodcocks come in about Michaelmas.
1768. Pennant, Brit. Zool., II. 348. Woodcocks generally arrive here in flocks.
1819. Byron, Juan, II. lxvii. He cannot live, like woodcocks, upon suction.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 249. In woodcock and true snipe … the eye … is placed far back and high up.
1902. J. Buchan, Watcher by Threshold, 152. The woodcock are notoriously late.
b. Applied to other birds.
(a) Local name for the pileated woodpecker of N. America, also called log-cock. (b) Little woodcock: = woodcock-snipe (see 4). (c) Sea woodcock: see SEA sb. 23 c.
a. 1813. A. Wilson, Foresters, Poet. Wks. (1846), 228. Crested wood-cocks hammer from on high.
1885. Swainson, Prov. Names Birds, 191. Great Snipe (Gallinago major) … Little woodcock, Woodcock snipe (Ireland).
1888. G. Trumbull, Names & Portr. Birds, 151.
2. In allusive use (from the ease with which the woodcock is taken in a snare or net), in reference to capture by some trickery, or as a type of gullibility or folly; hence applied to a person: a fool, simpleton, dupe. Obs. or arch.
c. 1430. Lydg., in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903), 48. With wodcokkes, lerne for to dare.
a. 1500–34. Cov. Corp. Christi Pl., ii. 432. For, dame, woll I neuer vast my wyttis, To wayte or pry where the wodkoce syttis.
1533. More, Debell. Salem, Wks. 958/2. As though he trusted that all the worlde wer woodcockes saue himselfe.
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse, Apol. (Arb.), 72. Cupide sets vpp a Springe for Woodcockes, which are entangled ere they descrie the line.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., II. v. 92. Now is the Woodcocke neere the gin.
1645. Milton, Colast., Wks. 1851, IV. 376. This most incogitant woodcock.
1654. T. Washbourne, Div. Poems, 1. Or like the Wood-cock hide their heads, and then, ’Cause they see none, think none sees them agen.
1679. Hist. Jetzer, 25. What have the wise Woodcocks of the Council to do with our Affairs?
1708. Brit. Apollo, No. 3. 2/2. That he shou’d not, In his own Trade appear a Woodcock.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xxxii. Poor woodcock, thou art snared!
1877. Tennyson, Harold, II. ii. We hold our Saxon woodcock in the springe, But he begins to flutter.
3. Various transferred uses. a. = woodcock-shell (see 4); more fully thorny woodcock. b. A variety of apple. c. = woodcock soil (see 4). d. Scotch woodcock: fancy name for a savory dish: see quot.
a. 1815. S. Brookes, Introd. Conchol., 157. Woodcock, Murex Haustellum.
1815. Burrow, Elem. Conchol., 202. Murex Tribulus, Thorny Woodcock or Venus Comb.
b. 1700. Nourse, Disc. Benefits Husb., x. 148. The Woodcock is a fair large Apple, and produces an excellent Cyder.
1803. Trans. Soc. Arts, XXI. 262. The old pauson, woodcock, and red musk, are generally large apples.
c. 1764. Museum Rust., III. xlvii. 197. Our soils are, in general, either a loam, brick earth, or woodcock, and under them clay.
d. 1879. Birmingham Weekly Post, 24 May, 1/4. ‘Scotch Woodcock’ … consists of hard boiled eggs chopped up, mixed with … anchovy sauce, and then laid on slices of hot buttered toast.
4. attrib. and Comb., as woodcock-pie, -shooting; woodcock clay = woodcock soil; woodcock-eye, = SNAP-HOOK 2; woodcock-fish = SNIPE-FISH 1; woodcock-fly, a fly used by anglers (see quot.); woodcock gun, a gun used for shooting woodcocks; woodcock owl, a local name for the short-eared owl; woodcock(’s) pilot, a local name for the golden-crested wren (see quot. 1893); woodcock-shell, one of several species of Murex having a long spout resembling a woodcock’s bill; woodcock-snipe, the great snipe, Scolopax major; woodcock soil, a loose soil consisting of a mixture of clay and gravel; woodcock wing, (a) the wing of a woodcock; (b) = woodcock-fly.
1780. A. Young, Tour Irel., II. 8. A bill … which is wet *woodcock clay.
1794. W. Felton, Carriages (1801), II. 155. Having the trace-rings … made with a screw, whereby they may be changed, and *woodcock eyes substituted in their place.
1880–4. Day, Fishes Gt. Brit. & Irel., I. 250. Centriscus scolopax … The trumpet, bellows-fish, *woodcock or snipe-fish.
1787. Best, Angling (ed. 2), 24. Oakfly, Ash-fly, or *Woodcock-fly, found on the body of an Oak or Ash … is a brownish fly and is taken from the beginning of May till the end of August.
1858. Greener, Gunnery, 205. If making *woodcock guns, less elevation is required, the distance of shooting being shorter.
1840. Macgillivray, Brit. Birds, III. 461. Asio brachyotos. The Streaked Tufted-Owl…. *Woodcock Owl. Mouse-hawk.
1598. Mucedorus, V. ii. 86. Now wee maie goe to breakefast with a *woodcoke pie.
1906. Westm. Gaz., 24 Dec., 11/1. Woodcock-pie is a famous Christmas dish at the Palace.
1871. East Anglian, IV. 112. *‘Woodcock Pilot.’
1893. Newton, Dict. Birds, 368. The bird [sc. Golden-crested Wren] in autumn visits the east coast in enormous flocks,… they are well known to the fishermen as ‘Woodcock’s Pilots,’ from their generally preceding by a few days the advent of those regular immigrants.
1907. Athenæum, 11 May, 570/2. But for the most interesting of these local terms is that of ‘woodcock pilot,’ by which the goldcrest is known to all the wild fowlers.
1850. R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr. (1902), 98/1. Taking my breakfast … with as much indifference as if I were going *woodcock-shooting.
1885. *Woodcock snipe [see b].
1764. Young, in Museum Rust., III. lxiii. 284. Loose, *woodcock, brick-earth soils.
1775. N. Kent, Hints to Gentl., 14. Woodcock-soil generally consists of yellow, or white clay, with a mixture of gravel; is seldom fruitful.
1535. Lyndesay, Satyre, 3528. Except God make me lichter nor ane fedder, Or send ine doun gude *Widcok wingis to flie.
1888. Pall Mall Gaz., 7 April, 6/1. A bull trout … succumbs to the woodcock wing.
Hence (nonce-wds.) Woodcock v., intr. to act like a woodcock (see quot., and cf. quot. 1654 in 2 above); Woodcockize v., trans. to make a ‘woodcock’ of, to befool.
1817. Maria Edgeworth, Ormond, vi. Like all cunning people, he *woodcocks—hides his head, and forgets his body can be seen.
1611. Cotgr., Beccassé, gulled, abused, *woodcockised, made a woodcocke.
