woodspiten.
/ˈwʊdspʌɪt/ Now dialect.
A woodpecker; esp. the Green Woodpecker, Gecinus viridis.
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the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Piciformes > [noun] > family Picidae > genus Picus (woodpecker)
woodhackc1440
woodwall1490
woodpecker1530
woodhacker1548
woodpeck1552
woodspite1555
woodspeckc1560
modwall1572
eat-bill1598
speck1601
tree-jobber1601
hecco1604
eat-bee1608
knag1639
French pie1783
pie1783
nicker-pecker1787
rind-tabberer1848
peckerwood1859
nickle1885
nicker1886
the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Piciformes > [noun] > family Picidae > genus Picus (woodpecker) > picus viridis (green woodpecker)
rain-fowl1440
woodwall1490
speight1513
hickwall?1533
rainbird1544
woodspite1555
green-peak1598
yaffingale1609
pick-a-tree1615
witwall1668
storm cock1769
nicker-pecker1787
yaffle1792
awl-bird1802
popinjay1802
yaffler1802
dirt-bird1847
yuckle1847
stock eagle1884
nicker1886
1555 C. Gesner Historiæ Animalium III. 680 Primum pici genus Angli spechtam & wodspechtam..nominant.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. xxvii. x. 282 The roots must bee digged up in the night season, for feare that the Wood-speight or Hickway should see them: for in the day time the said bird would flie in their faces that carie it away, and be ready to job out their eyes.
1606 N. Baxter Sir Philip Sydneys Ouránia sig. H2 The coloured Woodspite runs along the trees.
a1638 R. Reyce Suffolk in 17th Cent. (1902) 45 Others, whose notes I cannott commend.., as the Cookcow, the Jay, the wood spight, the owle.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth V. 249 The Green Wood-spite or Wood-pecker is called the Rain-Fowl in some parts of the country.
1885 C. Swainson Provinc. Names Brit. Birds 99 Green Woodpecker... Wood spite (Norfolk). Wood spack (Norfolk; Suffolk).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1928; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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