wood-henn.
/ˈwʊdhɛn/, U.S. /ˈwʊdˌhɛn/ 1. A female woodcock. Now rare.Formerly, like the woodcock, often rendered as a tenant's due.
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the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Scolopacidae (snipes, etc.) > [noun] > member of genus Scolopax (woodcock) > female
wood-hen1281
1281–2 Yorkshire Inquis. (Yorks. Rec. Soc. 1892) I. 248 [One fowl at Christmas, called] le Wodehen.
1343 in Blount Fragm. Antiq. (1815) 358 Reddendo..et unam Wed~henne.
1371 Close Roll m. 4 dorso Tercia pars gallinarum illarum que erunt leuate infra dominium de Groby que vocantur le Wodehennes.
?1530 Dialoges Creatures Moralysed lxxi. A A iij Ornix the wodehenne espyed the eggis of a Pecocke.
1612 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 280/2 Cum silvarum gallinis lie wode-hennis.
1836–48 B. D. Walsh tr. Aristophanes Clouds iv. iv I will not pay one groat to anyone, Who's ass enough to misname woodhens ‘woodcocks’.
1901 J. Rhŷs Celtic Folklore i. 55 The wife then flew away like a wood~hen..into the lake.
2. Any flightless rail of the genus Ocydromus, of New Zealand and other Pacific islands: = weka n.
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the world > animals > birds > order Gruiformes > [noun] > family Rallidae (rail) > gallirallus ausralis (weka)
water hen1770
wood-hen1773
weka1845
ocydrome1884
bush-hen1939
1773 J. Cook Jrnl. 16 Apr. (1969) II. 121 At the head is a fine sandy beach where I found a vast number of Water or Wood Hens.
1845 E. J. Wakefield Adventure in N.Z. II. iv. 95 Two young weka, or wood-hens, about as large as sparrows.
1874 Ibis 4 97 Wood or Maori Hen. Weka.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1928; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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