/wood"kok'/ , n. , pl. woodcocks , ( esp. collectively ) woodcock for 1, 2.
1. either of two plump, short-legged migratory game birds of variegated brown plumage, the Eurasian Scolopax rusticola and the smaller American Philohela minor.
2. any of various pileated or ivory-billed woodpeckers.
3. Archaic. a simpleton.
[ bef. 1050; ME wodecok, OE wuducoc. See WOOD 1 , COCK 1 ]