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. [1913 Webster]
" The most important species are the European (Scolopax rusticola) and the American woodcock (Philohela minor), which agree very closely in appearance and habits." [1913 Webster]
Fig.: A simpleton. [1913 Webster]
"If I loved you not, I would laugh at you, and see you
Run your neck into the noose, and cry, “A woodcock!”" [1913 Webster]

Little woodcock. (a) The common American snipe. (b) The European snipe. -- Sea woodcock fish, the bellows fish. -- Woodcock owl, the short-eared owl (Asio brachyotus). -- 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.

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

woodcock, n. (pl. same) any game-bird of the genus Scolopax, inhabiting woodland.

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