| 释义 |
woodcock, n.|ˈwʊdkɒk|
Forms: see wood n.1 and cock n.1; also 2–3 wide cok, 4–5 wodekoc, 5 -kok, wodkoke, 6 wodkoce, Sc. widcoik.
[Late OE. wudu-, wudecoc(c, f. wood n.1 and cock n.1 Appears in OF. as huitecox, witecos, videcos, etc., and in Norman dial. as videcoq.]
1. a. 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.
c1050Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 258/5 Acega, wuducoc. a1100Gloss. ibid. 132/20 Aceta, snite, uel wudecocc. 1273Liber Cust. (Rolls) 82, ii wodecokes pro iii obolis. 1321Ibid. 304 Le bon widecoke pur i denier. c1325Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 164 Un arscye [gloss a wode-koc]. Ibid. 174 Assez [gloss wodekok]. 1347Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 41, ix pluuers, ij Wodekokes. c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 35 Þo crane schalle..be..Draȝun at þo syde as wodcockis. 1486Bk. St. Albans, Hawking d i, The wodecok is comborous to sle: bot if ther be crafte. 1533Elyot Cast. Helthe (1539) 30 Woodcockes, are of a good temperaunce, and metely lyghte in dygestion. 1538Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1871) II. 92 A mure fowle viij d, a widcoik viij d. 1658in 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. 1700T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. 28 Mayors and Woodcocks come in about Michaelmas. 1768Pennant Brit. Zool. II. 348 Woodcocks generally arrive here in flocks. 1819Byron Juan ii. lxvii, He cannot live, like woodcocks, upon suction. 1872Coues N. Amer. Birds 249 In woodcock and true snipe..the eye..is placed far back and high up. 1902Buchan 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 n. 23 c.
a1813A. Wilson Foresters Poet. Wks. (1846) 228 Crested wood-cocks hammer from on high. 1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 191 Great Snipe (Gallinago major)..Little woodcock, Woodcock snipe (Ireland). 1888G. Trumbull Bird Names 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.
c1430Lydg. in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 48 With wodcokkes, lerne for to dare. a1500–34Cov. Corp. Christi Pl. ii. 432 For, dame, woll I neuer vast my wyttis, To wayte or pry where the wodkoce syttis. 1533More Debell. Salem Wks. 958/2 As though he trusted that all the worlde wer woodcockes saue himselfe. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse Apol. (Arb.) 72 Cupide sets vpp a Springe for Woodcockes, which are entangled ere they descrie the line. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 92 Now is the Woodcocke neere the gin. 1645Milton Colast. Wks. 1851 IV. 376 This most incogitant woodcock. 1654T. Washbourne Div. Poems 1 Or like the Wood-cock hide their heads, and then, 'Cause they see none, think none sees them agen. 1679Hist. Jetzer 25 What have the wise Woodcocks of the Council to do with our Affairs? 1708Brit. Apollo No. 3. 2/2 That he shou'd not, In his own Trade appear a Woodcock. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxxii, Poor woodcock, thou art snared! 1877Tennyson 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 savoury dish: see quot.
a.1815S. Brookes Introd. Conchol. 157 Woodcock, Murex Haustellum. 1815Burrow Elem. Conchol. 202 Murex Tribulus, Thorny Woodcock or Venus Comb.
b.1700Nourse Disc. Benefits Husb. x. 148 The Woodcock is a fair large Apple, and produces an excellent Cyder. 1803Trans. Soc. Arts XXI. 262 The old pauson, woodcock, and red musk, are generally large apples.
c.1764Museum Rust. III. xlvii. 197 Our soils are, in general, either a loam, brick earth, or woodcock, and under them clay.
d.1861Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. xxxiii. 822 (heading) Scotch woodcock. 1879Birmingham 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, woodcock-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.
1780Young Tour Irel. II. 8 A hill..which is wet *woodcock clay.
1794W. 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.
1880–4Day Fishes Gt. Brit. & Irel. I. 250 Centriscus scolopax..The trumpet, bellows-fish, *woodcock or snipe-fish.
1787Best 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.
1858Greener Gunnery 205 If making *woodcock guns, less elevation is required, the distance of shooting being shorter.
1840Macgillivray Brit. Birds III. 461 Asio brachyotos. The Streaked Tufted-Owl... *Woodcock Owl. Mouse-hawk.
1598Mucedorus v. ii. 86 Now wee maie goe to breakefast with a *woodcoke pie. 1906Westm. Gaz. 24 Dec. 11/1 Woodcock-pie is..a famous Christmas dish at the Palace.
1871East Anglian IV. 112 ‘*Woodcock Pilot’. 1893Newton 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. 1907Athenæum 11 May 570/2 The most interesting of these local terms is that of ‘woodcock pilot’, by which the goldcrest is known to all the wild fowlers.
1850R. 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 1 b].
1764Young in Museum Rust. III. lxiii. 284 Loose, *woodcock, brick-earth soils. 1775N. Kent Hints to Gentl. 14 Woodcock-soil generally consists of yellow, or white clay, with a mixture of gravel; is seldom fruitful.
1535Lyndesay Satyre 3528 Except God make me lichter nor ane fedder, Or send me doun gude *Widcok wingis to flie. 1888Pall Mall Gaz. 7 Apr. 6/1 A bull trout..succumbs to the woodcock wing.
Hence (nonce-wds.) ˈwoodcock v., intr. to act like a woodcock (see quot., and cf. quot. 1654 in 2 above); ˈwoodcockize v., trans. to make a ‘woodcock’ of, to befool.
1817M. Edgeworth Ormond vi, Like all cunning people, he *woodcocks—hides his head, and forgets his body can be seen.
1611Cotgr., Beccassé, gulled, abused, *woodcockised, make a woodcocke. |