Obs. Forms and etym.: see WOOD a. and MAN sb.1 A madman, lunatic, maniac.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 3338. Hii verde as wodemen; hii wende hii were ynome.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xi. (Symon & Iudas), 412. Wodmen … In quhame þe feyndis þan can dwel. Ibid., xix. (Cristofore), 285. Þe Iugis,… Fore a wodman demyt hym.
c. 1400. Beryn, 1351. He trampelid fast with his feet, & al to-tare his ere And his visage both, ryȝt as a woodman.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, X. xii. 432. Cryenge and rateynge hym as a wood man.
1512. J. Parfre, Candlemas-Day, in Marriott, Miracle-Plays (1838), 200. Like as a wodman he gan to fray.
