Word Meanings - WOODCOCK - Book Publishers vocabulary database

Any one of several species of long-billed limicoline birds belonging to the genera Scolopax and Philohela. They are mostly nocturnal in their habits, and are highly esteemed as game birds. Note: The most important species are the European (Scolopax

Additional info about word: WOODCOCK

Any one of several species of long-billed limicoline birds belonging to the genera Scolopax and Philohela. They are mostly nocturnal in their habits, and are highly esteemed as game birds. Note: The most important species are the European (Scolopax rusticola) and the American woodcock , which agree very closely in appearance and habits. 2. Fig.: A simpleton. If I loved you not, I would laugh at you, and see you Run your neck into the noose, and cry, "A woodcock!" Beau. & Fl. Little woodcock. The common American snipe. The European snipe. -- Sea woodcock fish, the bellows fish. -- Woodcock owl, the short-eared owl . -- Woodcock shell, the shell of certain mollusks of the genus Murex, having a very long canal, with or without spines. -- Woodcock snipe. See under Snipe.

Related words: (words related to WOODCOCK)

• BILLY GOAT
  A male goat.
• BILLIARDS
  A game played with ivory balls o a cloth-covered, rectangular table, bounded by elastic cushions. The player seeks to impel his ball with his cue so that it shall either strike two other balls, or drive another ball into one of the pockets with
• NOCTURNAL
  1. Of, pertaining to, done or occuring in, the night; as, nocturnal darkness, cries, expedition, etc.; -- opposed to Ant: diurnal. Dryden. 2. Having a habit of seeking food or moving about at night; as, nocturnal birds and insects.
• BILLON
  An alloy of gold and silver with a large proportion of copper or other base metal, used in coinage.
• BILLINGSGATE
  1. A market near the Billings gate in London, celebrated for fish and foul language. 2. Coarsely abusive, foul, or profane language; vituperation; ribaldry.
• GENERABILITY
  Capability of being generated. Johnstone.
• GENERALIZED
  Comprising structural characters which are separated in more specialized forms; synthetic; as, a generalized type.
• BILLFISH
  A name applied to several distinct fishes: The garfish and allied species. The saury, a slender fish of the Atlantic coast . The Tetrapturus albidus, a large oceanic species related to the swordfish; the spearfish. The American fresh-water
• BILLETHEAD
  A round piece of timber at the bow or stern of a whaleboat, around which the harpoon lone is run out when the whale darts off.
• GENERALIZABLE
  Capable of being generalized, or reduced to a general form of statement, or brought under a general rule. Extreme cases are . . . not generalizable. Coleridge
• GENERA
  See GENUS
• BILLABONG
  In Australia, a blind channel leading out from a river; -- sometimes called an anabranch. This is the sense of the word as used in the Public Works Department; but the term has also been locally applied to mere back-waters forming stagnant pools
• GENERALTY
  Generality. Sir M. Hale.
• SPECIES
  A group of individuals agreeing in common attributes, and designated by a common name; a conception subordinated to another conception, called a genus, or generic conception, from which it differs in containing or comprehending more attributes,
• ESTEEMABLE
  Worthy of esteem; estimable. "Esteemable qualities." Pope.
• BILLOT
  Bullion in the bar or mass.
• IMPORTANTLY
  In an important manner.
• BILL BOOK
  A book in which a person keeps an account of his notes, bills, bills of exchange, etc., thus showing all that he issues and receives.
• NOCTURNALLY
  By night; nightly.
• BILLHOOK
  A thick, heavy knife with a hooked point, used in pruning hedges, etc. When it has a short handle, it is sometimes called a hand bill; when the handle is long, a hedge bill or scimiter.
• ANTIBILLOUS
  Counteractive of bilious complaints; tending to relieve biliousness.
• MAJOR GENERAL
  . An officer of the army holding a rank next above that of brigadier general and next below that of lieutenant general, and who usually commands a division or a corps.
• RIPPER ACT; RIPPER BILL
  An act or a bill conferring upon a chief executive, as a governor or mayor, large powers of appointment and removal of heads of departments or other subordinate officials.
• UNREGENERACY
  The quality or state of being unregenerate. Glanvill.
• CROOKBILL
  A New Zealand plover , remarkable for having the end of the beak abruptly bent to the right.
• SNIPEBILL
  1. A plane for cutting deep grooves in moldings. 2. A bolt by which the body of a cart is fastened to the axle.
• TORSIBILLTY
  The tendency, as of a rope, to untwist after being twisted.
• BROADBILL
  A wild duck , which appears in large numbers on the eastern coast of the United States, in autumn; - - called also bluebill, blackhead, raft duck, and scaup duck. See Scaup duck.
• RETROGENERATIVE
  Begetting young by retrocopulation.
• SHOEBILL
  A large African wading bird allied to the storks and herons, and remarkable for its enormous broad swollen bill. It inhabits the valley of the White Nile. See Illust. of Beak.
• BLUEBILL
  A duck of the genus Fuligula. Two American species (F. marila and F. affinis) are common. See Scaup duck.
• ESTEEM
  1. To set a value on; to appreciate the worth of; to estimate; to value; to reckon. Then he forsook God, which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. Deut. xxxii. 15. Thou shouldst esteem his censure and authority to be of
• MISESTEEM
  Want of esteem; disrespect. Johnson.