ˈ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ noun
( plural woodcocks or woodcock )
Etymology: Middle English wodecok, from Old English wuducocc, from wudu wood + cocc cock — more at wood , cock
1.
a.
(1) : an Old World limicoline bird ( Scolopax rusticola ) that ranges from the British Isles to Japan, migrates southward, and has large eyes, a long bill very sensitive at the tip used in probing the ground for earthworms, and a variously mottled black, chestnut, gray, and buff color
(2) : a smaller related American bird ( Philohela minor ) that is distinguished by having the three outer primaries shortened and conspicuously narrowed instead of the first only as in the European woodcock, that frequents woodlands, and that is prized as a game bird
b. : pileated woodpecker
2.
[so called from the ease with which the woodcock is taken in a snare]
archaic : a gullible person : simpleton
3. or woodcock soil : a soil consisting of clay and gravel
4. or woodcock shell : the shell of any of various mollusks of the genus Murex having a very long canal