sb. Obs. (exc. Hist.). Forms: 1 wudewasa, 4 wodwos, (-wysse), 4–5 wodewese, 4–6 wodewose, 5 wodwose, (-wous(e, -woys, -wosh(e, -wyssh(e, wodewyse), 5–6 woodwose, -wyss, 6 -woss, pl. wodys, vodys. β. 5 woodowes, 6 wodowes, woodos(e, wodehouse, -howse, wood(e)hous(e. [Late OE. wudewása, f. wudu WOOD sb.1 + *wása (of obscure origin).] A wild man of the woods; a savage; a satyr, faun; a person dressed to represent such a being in a pageant.
Sometimes taken for or construed as pl.
a. 1100. Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 108/22. Satiri, uel fauni,… uel fauni ficarii, unfæle men, wudewasan, unfæle wihtu.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 721. Sumwhyle wyth wormez he werrez,… Sumwhyle wyth wodwos, þat woned in þe knarrez.
13[?]. Metr. Hom. (Vernon MS.), in Herrig’s Archiv, LVII. 261. Þis Breusteres doubtur … tolde þe folk as wodewose wilde Who gat on hire þis forseyde childe.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XV. xix. (Tollem. MS.). Þerin [sc. in Africa] ben satires, wodewoses, tigris, and oþer horrible bestes.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 3817. Alls vnwyse wodewyse he wente at Þe gayneste.
c. 1440. Partonope, 7691 [4737], in Anglia, XII. 616. Partanope hath now forsake The wodwous [v.rr. wodwoys, wodwose, wodwouse] lyfe.
1460. Capgrave, Chron. (Rolls), 257. The Kyng of Frauns daunsed in his halle with IIII knites, and was arayed lich a wodwous.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Auian, xxii. A wodewose named Satyre.
1519. Horman, Vulg., 109. Woode wosis be vpward nostrelde, Satyri sunt sili.
1555. Machyn, Diary (Camden), 96. Men lyke wodys alle in gren.
1556. Withals, Dict. (1562), 15. A wodewose, satyrus.
β. a. 1505. in Kingsford, Chron. Lond. (1905), 251. Fourthly came … the Erle of Essex … wt a woodhous precedyng, and beryng a Sere tre.
1525[?]. Fitzherb., Husb., Colophon, Emprynted at London in Southwarke, at the sygne of the wodowes.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 9 b. These beastes were led with certayne men appareiled like wilde men, or woodhouses.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet., Pref. A iij. Some wente naked, some romed lyke woodoses, none did anye thing by reason.
[1832. Aspin, Anc. Customs etc. English, 251. The savage men, or wodehouses, as they are sometimes called, frequently made their appearance in the public shows.
1866. J. Nicholl, Comp. Ironmongers, 86, note. The engravings … represent ivy-men or wood-wards, characters introduced in the pageants … of that period [c. 1515]. They were sometimes called woodhouses.]
b. A figure of such a being, as a decoration, a heraldic bearing or supporter, etc.
1355. in Rep. MSS. Ld. Middleton (1911), 465. Item j. botoner de roses, pris xl s. Item j. botoner de wodewoses, pris c s.
1381. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), I. 121. Lectum., broudatum cum signis de wodewese.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 1540. A vestoure … Wroȝt full of wodwose & oþer wild bestis.
1498. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), IV. 133. Sex cocliaria optima arg[entea] cum wodwoshes.
β. 1493. Will of Feld (Somerset Ho.). Dosen spones of siluer with woodowes on thende.
1513. in Archaeologia, LXVI. 347. A Counterpoint of woodehouse lyned wt canvas.
1531. Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905), 49. vj Sponys with woodos gylt.
[1910. P. Bond, Misericords, 16. The wodehouse is a very common supporter in heraldry.
1920. Archaeologia, Ser. II. XIX. 81. Three woodhouses; between crosses.]
Hence † Woodwose v. intr., to run wild.
13[?]. Metr. Hom. (Vernon MS.), in Herrig’s Archiv, LVII. 274. Ho is wodore þen þat mon Þat muche skile and resun con … And goþ siþen wod wosande?
