woodcock

American  

[wood-kok] / ˈwʊdˌkɒk /

noun

plural

woodcocks,

plural

woodcock

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.

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woodcock British  

/ ˈwʊdˌkɒk /

noun

1. an Old World game bird, Scolopax rusticola, resembling the snipe but larger and having shorter legs and neck: family Scolopacidae (sandpipers, etc), order Charadriiformes

2. a related North American bird, Philohela minor

3. obsolete a simpleton

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Etymology

Origin of woodcock

before 1050; Middle English wodecok, Old English wuducoc. See wood ¹, cock ¹