woldn.

Brit.

/wəʊld/, U.S.

/woʊld/

Forms: α. Old English–1500s Scottish wald, Middle English walde, 1600s– dialect waud, 1700s dialect wadd, 1800s Scottish wauld. β. Middle English– wold, Middle English–1500s wolde, Middle English–1700s would, 1600s wowld, plural woles, 1700s woald. γ. 1500s–1600s old, 1600s ould. See also weald n.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.

Etymology: Common Germanic (not extant in Gothic): Old English (Anglian) wald (West Saxon weald : see weald n.) strong masculine forest, wooded country = Old Frisian wald forest, Middle Dutch wout , woud- (Dutch woud ), Old Saxon wald forest, ? wilderness (Middle Low German, Low German wold ), Old High German wald forest, wilderness (Middle High German walt , wald- forest, wood, timber, German wald forest), Old Norse völlr untilled field, plain (Swedish vall pasture, Norwegian voll grassy plain) < Old Germanic *walþuz , of which the ulterior relations are doubtful. (From Germanic is derived Old French gua(l)d woodland, scrub, untilled land, whence gaudine bower, grove.) After the early 16th cent., the word ceased to be in general use and became restricted to localities in which it entered into the proper designation of characteristic tracts of country, probably at one time thickly wooded; thence arose the general literary (especially poetical) use defined in sense 3.

†1. Forest, forest land; wooded upland. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > land > landscape > fertile land or place > land with vegetation > [noun] > wooded land

wold786

frith?826

woodland869

woodc897

rough1332

foresta1375

firth?a1400

weald1544

bocage1644

parkland1649

bush1780

sylvanry1821

forestry1823

belting1844

rukh1856

treescape1885

bush1912

786 in Birch Cartul. Sax. (1885) I. 344 In limen wero wealdo, & in burh waro uualdo.

OE Judith 206 Þæs se hlanca gefeah wulf in walde, ond se wanna hrefn, wælgifre fugel.

a1225 St. Marher. 10 Wilde deor þet on þeos wilde waldes wunieð.

?13.. in Somner Roman Ports & Forts Kent (1693) 110 Septem Dennas in sylva quæ vocatur Wald.

?13.. in Somner Roman Ports & Forts Kent (1693) 113 Homines quoque de Walda debent unam domum æstivalem quod Anglicè dicitur Sumerhus, aut xx solidos dare.

c1300 in J. Stow Survey of London (1720) II. v. x. 193/1 (margin) Fabri de Waldis.

a1400–50 Wars Alex. 3799 Þai droȝe furth be dissert & drinkles þai spill, Was nouthire waldis in þar walke ne water to fynde.

†2. A hill, down. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > control > [noun] > control and possession

wieldnesseOE

fathomOE

waldOE

wieldOE

wieldingOE

woldc1275

grip1508

gripe1532

graspa1616

the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > hill > [noun]

cloudc893

downOE

hillc1000

penOE

holmc1275

woldc1275

clotc1325

banka1393

knotc1400

nipc1400

rist1577

kop1835

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > plants used in dyeing > [noun] > weld

waldOE

weldc1374

wild woada1425

wolda1500

base rocket1578

yellow-weed1597

weld seed1765

wild mignonette1861

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 12855 Na whit heo ne funden quikes uppen wolden [c1300 Otho vp þan hulle].

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 10743 Childric com sone ouer wald liðen [c1300 Otho ouer dounes wende].

c1275 Passion our Lord 27 in Old Eng. Misc. 38 Þe holy gost hyne ledde vp into þe wolde For to beon yuonded of sathanas.

a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 938 Ðre der he toc, ilc ðre ger hold, And sacrede god on an wold.

1483 Cath. Angl. 406/2 Y^e Walde, alpina.

a1500 Coventry Corpus Christi Plays 15/436 Hereby apon a wolde Scheppardis wachyng there fold.

1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid x. xiii. 111 The travellour ȝond vnder the wald Lurkand wythdrawis to sum sovir hald.

1590 W. Camden Brit. (new ed.) 279 Cots Wold..Montes enim & colles Woulds olim dixerunt Angli, vnde Glossarium antiquum Alpes Italiæ The Woulds of Italie interpretatur.]

a. A piece of open country; a plain; in early use (with the) sometimes = ‘the plain’, the ground, the earth; in later use chiefly, an elevated tract of open country or moorland; also collective plural or singular rolling uplands. (Frequent since c1600 in vague poetical use.)

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > land > landscape > level land > [noun] > level place or plain

fieldeOE

wong971

field landOE

woldc1220

flat1296

plainc1325

field placec1384

champaign?a1400

floor?a1400

smeethc1440

plain-land1487

weald1544

champian1589

camp1605

level1623

campaign1628

planure1632

campania1663

esplanade1681

flatland1735

vlakte1785

steppe1837

c1220 Bestiary 606 Elpes..to-gaddre gon o wolde, So sep ðat cumen ut of folde.

c1220 Bestiary 757 Ilk der ðe him hereð to him cumeð, And foleȝeð him up one ðe wold.

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 10399 Þenne he bið baldest ufen-an þan walde [c1300 Otho wolde].

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 8215 Hengest bah a þene wald [c1300 Otho Hii wende in-to þan felde].

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 4987 Stod þe wund-liche wude amidden ane wælde [c1300 Otho wolde].

1425 in Hist. MSS Comm.: Rep. MSS Ld. Middleton (1911) 107 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 5567) XXVII. 1 No man with comyn herd ne with sched herd com on the wold after gresse be mowen to it be maked and led away.

c1425 Cast. Persev. 826 in Macro Plays 102 Whyl he walkyth in worldly wolde, I, Bakbyter, am with hym holde.

1471 Hist. Arrivall Edw. IV (camden) 26 Aboute that place was a great and a fayre large playne, called a would.

1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xviii. 555 Thair fayis, vith thair mycht, noyand, Quhill to the wald cummyn war thai. Syne northwarde tuk thai hame thar way, And distroyit, in thair repair, The vale haly of beauvare.

1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid ix. xi. 13 Rane..dois smyte apon the wald [L. humum].

1587 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Iland Brit. (new ed.) ii. xix. 206/2 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) I This may suffice for the vse of the word Wald, which now differeth much from Wold. For as that signifieth a woodie soile, so this betokeneth a soile without wood, or plaine champaine countrie, without anie store of trees.

1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear xi. 109 Swithald footed thrice the old.

1636 W. Denny in Ann. Dubrensia sig. C2^v Faire fleec'd Sheepe, which beautifie the Woulds.

1740 W. Somervile Hobbinol i. 237 On the bleak Woald the new-born Infant lay, Expos'd to Winter Snows.

1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake iv. 161 Or who may dare on wold to wear The fairie's fatal green?

1812 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Cantos I & II ii. lxviii. 95 Till he..from his further bank Ætolia's wolds espied.

1832 Ld. Tennyson To J. S. i The wind, that beats the mountain, blows More softly round the open wold.

a1845 R. H. Barham Blasphemer's Warning in Ingoldsby Legends (1847) 3rd Ser. 225 With broad lands, pasture, arable, woodland, and wold.

1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake I. Prel. 16 Between the forests were open wolds.

1905 A. C. Benson Thread of Gold iii Beyond all ran the long pure line of the rising wold.

b. figurative.

ΚΠ

1633 G. Herbert Pilgrimage in Temple iii That led me to the wilde of passion, which Some call the wold.

1654 B. Oley Some Notes of Publisher in T. Jackson Exact Coll. Wks. 3141 Though I have cut up in the Wolds of Gentilism, and layd together a Turf or two.

1876 L. Morris Epic of Hades ii. 39 The thick-leaved coverts vast And wind-worn wolds of life.

c. in alliterative conjunction with wood (occasionally with waste, wild).

ΚΠ

1813 W. Scott Bridal of Triermain i. xi. 30 On vent'rous quest to ride..by wood and wold.

1821 W. Scott Pirate II. xiii. 304 On they went, through wild and over wold.

1847 H. W. Longfellow Evangeline ii. iv The notes of the robin..Sounded sweet upon wold and in wood.

1896 J. Davidson Fleet St. Eclogues 2nd Ser. 70 And waste and wold Took heart and shone.

4. Used in the specific designations of certain hilly tracts in England, viz. the hill country of North Yorkshire and Humberside ( Yorkshire Wolds, †York(e)swold, †York-wolds), the Cotswold district, the hilly districts of Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > [noun]

downlandeOE

downOE

highlandOE

high country1445

wold1472

high ground1489

upland1566

hill-country1582

Chiltern1627

downs country1791

altitude1853

upwold1875

top-land1877

1472–5 Rolls of Parl. VI. 157/2 Fell called Shorlyng and Morlyng, growyng in Yorkeswold.

1548 in J. W. Clay North Country Wills (1908) I. (Surtees 1908) 202 My manor in Willoughby upon the woldes.

1596 W. Lambarde Perambulation of Kent (rev. ed.) 408 Those large champaignes of Yorkswold, and Cotswolde.

1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. i. 523 Part of it [sc. Leicestershire] is called the Wold, as being hilly without wood.

1622 M. Drayton 2nd Pt. Poly-olbion xxvi. Argt. 115 Tow'rds Lester then her course shee holds, And sailing o'r the pleasant Oulds, Shee fetcheth Soare downe from her Springs.

1622 W. Burton Descr. Leicester Shire 296 Waltham on the Wouldes.

a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 29 Most of the grasse that groweth on the landes, and especially on the leyes of the wolds, is a small, sparrie, and dry grasse.

1669 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 4 1012 In some wooddy parts of the Woles in Lincoln-shire.

1697 G. Meriton Praise Yorks. Ale (ed. 3) 80 (East-Riding Yorks.) For Wolds or Woulds [they say] Wauds.

1725 in Hist. MSS Comm.: Rep. MSS Duke of Portland (1901) VI. 95 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 676) XXXVI. i. 1 The Yorkshire Wolds, called here the Wadds.

1778 S. Whatley England's Gazetteer (ed. 2) at Yorkshire A large tract called the York-Woulds.

1891 ‘S. C. Scrivener’ Our Fields & Cities 20 The north of Lincolnshire is..high and dry. It is called the ‘Wold’; but that does not mean big stones and heather. The Wold is not a moor; it is a succession of good turnip fields.

Compounds

C1. General attributive.

wold-dweller n.

ΚΠ

1907 M. C. F. Morris Nunburnholme 12 The early Wold~dwellers.

wold-fire n.

ΚΠ

1813 J. Hogg Queen's Wake ii. xi. 152 Like wold-fire, at midnight, that glares on the waste.

wold-hill n.

ΚΠ

1850 ‘Sylvanus’ Bye-lanes & Downs Introd. p. ix A view of pastures, turnip and corn-fields, and wold-hills, terminating in a distant glimpse of the ocean.

wold-land n.

ΚΠ

1799 Gen. View Agric. County Lincoln 12 The wold land about Louth.

wold-like adj.

ΚΠ

1848 E. Bulwer-Lytton Harold I. i. iii. 49 Lands..wild and wold-like.

C2.

wold-mouse n. a vole.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > superfamily Myomorpha (mouse, rat, vole, or hamster) > [noun] > family Microtidae > genus Clethrionomys (vole)

vole1805

bank vole1837

red-backed mouse1865

red-backed vole1880

wold-mouse1892

Orkney vole1904

1892 Daily News 18 Nov. 5/1 Voles, or ‘wold-mice’.

woldsman n. a dweller in the wolds.

ΘΚΠ

the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Europe > British nation > English nation > [noun] > native or inhabitant of England > north of England > Yorkshire

Yorkshireman1549

Yorker1599

wolder1765

woldsman1765

Yorkie1818

tyke1820

bite1883

1765 Museum Rusticum 4 xxx. 138 I am told by the experienced woldsmen, that there is as great difference as possible in the neatness of the making up the sheaves.

1895 Naturalist 322 The Louth woldsmen were in the habit of attending Lincoln [market].

Derivatives

ˈwolder n. (also Yorkshire wolder) an inhabitant of the Yorkshire wolds.

ΘΚΠ