Obs. (or dial.) Forms: 5 wodehake, wodake, 6 wo(o)dhacke, 9 woodhack. [f. WOOD sb.1 + stem of HACK v.1 (Cf. notehake, NUTHATCH.)] A woodpecker.

1

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 531/2. Wodehake, or reyne fowle.

2

c. 1475.  Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 763/1. Hic icter, a wodake.

3

a. 1529.  Skelton, P. Sparowe, 418. The woodhacke, that syngeth chur Horsly, as he had the mur.

4

1530.  Palsgr., 289/2. Wodhacke a byrde.

5

1885.  Swainson, Prov. Names Birds, 100. Green woodpecker (Gecinus viridis) … Wood hack (Lincoln).

6

  So † Woodhacker (rare).

7

1548.  Thomas, Ital. Dict. (1550), Picchio, a woodhacker or a woodwall.

8