wood

English Online Dictionary. What means wood‎? What does wood mean?

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English wode, from Old English wudu, widu (“wood, forest, grove; tree; timber”), from Proto-West Germanic *widu, from Proto-Germanic *widuz (“wood”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- (“to separate”).

Cognate with Dutch wede (“wood, twig”), Middle High German wite (“wood”), Danish ved (“wood”), Swedish ved (“firewood”), Icelandic viður (“wood”). Further cognates include Irish fiodh (“a wood, tree”), Irish fid (“tree”) and Welsh gwŷdd (“trees”); all from Proto-Celtic *widus (“wood”). Unrelated to Dutch woud (“forest”), German Wald (“forest”) (see English wold).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian, General American) enPR: wo͝od, IPA^(key): /wʊd/
• Rhymes: -ʊd
• Homophone: would

Noun

wood (countable and uncountable, plural woods)

2. (uncountable) The substance making up the central part of the trunk and branches of a tree. Used as a material for construction, to manufacture various items, etc. or as fuel.
3. (countable) The wood of a particular species of tree.
4. (countable, often as plurale tantum) A forested or wooded area.

   Synonyms: woods, forest, woodland; see also Thesaurus:forest
5. Firewood.
6. (countable, golf) A type of golf club, the head of which was traditionally made of wood.
7. (music) A woodwind instrument.
8. (uncountable, slang) An erection of the penis.

9. (chess, uncountable, slang) Chess pieces.

Usage notes

In the sense of "a forested area", the singular generally refers to a discrete area of forest, while the plural is often used when a more vaguely defined area is meant.

Synonyms

• (substance): timber
• (wooded area, US): wood lot

Derived terms

Related terms

• wooden

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: udu

Translations

Verb

wood (third-person singular simple present woods, present participle wooding, simple past and past participle wooded)

1. (transitive) To cover or plant with trees.
   • 1542, Sir Richard Devereux, letter, in Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, London: J. Nichols, published 1792, page 155:

     Their be ii good bellys, a chales, and a few veſtments of litil valure, the ſtuff beſide is not worth xl s. lead ther ys non except in ii gutters the which the p’or hath convey’d in to ye town, but that is ſuar yt is metely wodey’d in hege rowys.

2. (reflexive, intransitive) To hide behind trees.
   • c. 1586, Sir Ralph Lane, “Lane’s Account of the Englishmen Left in Virginia”, in Henry Sweetser Burrage, editor, Early English and French Voyages: Chiefly from Hakluyt, 1534–1608, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1906, page 246:

     Immediatly, the other boate lying ready with their shot to skoure the place for our hand weapons to lande upon, which was presently done, although the land was very high and steepe, the Savages forthwith quitted the shoare, and betooke themselves to flight: wee landed, and having faire and easily followed for a smal time after them, who had wooded themselves we know not where […]

3. (transitive) To supply with wood, or get supplies of wood for.

   to wood a steamboat or a locomotive
4. (intransitive) To take or get a supply of wood.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English wood, from Old English wōd (“mad, insane”). See the full etymology at wode.

Alternative forms

• wode

Adjective

wood (comparative wooder, superlative woodest)

1. (obsolete) Mad, insane, crazed.

Derived terms

• wood-wroth
• woodness

Etymology 3

Back-formation from peckerwood.

Noun

wood (plural woods)

1. (US, sometimes offensive, chiefly prison slang, of a person) A peckerwood.
   • 1991, Mary E. Pelz, James W. Marquart and Terry Pelz, "Right-Wing Extremism in the Texas Prisons: The Rise and Fall of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas", The Prison Journal, Winter-Fall 1991:

     He further stated that "I can't remember ever seeing a wood [white inmate] assault a nigger without being provoked".

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English, more at wood above.

Adjective

wood

1. insane; crazy