highwoodn.
/ˈhʌɪwʊd/, U.S. /ˈhaɪˌwʊd/ Now rare (chiefly historical).
Woodland containing tall trees; spec. such woodland cleared of undergrowth and managed for the production of timber or (in early use) for hunting; an area of such woodland; (also) the trees themselves or their wood. Cf. high forest n. at high adj. and n.2 Compounds 4. Contrasted with low wood n. at low adj. and n.2 Compounds 3 and underwood n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > tree or woody plant > wood or assemblage of trees or shrubs > [noun] > wood of tall trees or lacking undergrowth
highwoodc1275
high forest1477
hautboy1677
open wood1790
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 10047 (MED) Heo uorð hælden swa þe hæȝe wude þenne wind wode weieð hine mid mæine.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 2178 (MED) Þan hastely hiȝed eche wiȝt..huntyng wiȝt houndes alle heie wodes.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. l. 2296 (MED) As a wilde man Unto the hihe wode he ran.
?a1475 in C. D. Eckhardt Prophetia Merlini (1982) 82 Merlyn seid also þat þe sexte schall ouerthrowe þe walles of Irlond. and the high woodes he schall all playn.
1550 T. Paynell Piththy & Notable Sayinges Script. f. lxxxi Therfore shall Syon for your sake, be plowed lyke a field, Ierusalem shal become an heape of stones, and the hyll of the temple shalbe turned to an hye wood.
1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie xxxiv. 88 (heading) How a Huntesman may seeke in the highe woods [Fr. hautes fustayes].
1614 G. Markham 2nd Bk. Eng. Husbandman ii. iii. 59 High Woods are those which containe onely Trees for Timber, and are not pestred or imbraced with the vnder growth of small brush wood.
1648 W. Sheppard Touch-stone Common Assurances v. 94 By this grant doth passe all the highwood and underwood, and not only the wood growing upon the land or soile but the land or soile it selfe wherein it doth grow.
1652 O. Felltham Brief Char. Low-Countries 40 Their ships ly like high woods in Winter.
1718 W. Brown Compend. & Accurate Treat. Fines (ed. 5) 19 Highwood and Underwood may pass by the general Name of Wood.
1727 W. Nelson Laws Eng. conc. Game 275 There are three Sorts of Plants, which he calls Arbores, as Highwood and Underwoods, Arborescentes..; and Herbæ.
1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe III. iv. 108 One is from Hexhamshire...The other is Yorkshire bred, and has twanged his bow-string right oft in merry Sherwood; he knows each glade and dingle, copse and high-wood, betwixt this and Richmond.
1900 J. Nisbet Our Forests & Woodlands iii. 105 Data are not yet available to indicate anything like definitely what rotation of oak in highwoods will prove most remunerative.
1904 G. A. B. Dewar Glamour of Earth v. 83 He turns bravely to the dripping highwood, to cut and lay in lands or rows the hazel and oak stems.
1959 E. Pound Thrones cvii. 110 High-wood is called saltus.
2000 tr. F. W. M. Vera Grazing Ecol. & Forest Hist. iv. 128 The ‘highwood’ belonged to the lord and could be felled only with his express permission.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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