woodcock snipe
    n 1: Old World snipe larger and darker than the whole snipe
         [syn: great snipe, woodcock snipe, Gallinago media]
    2: small long-billed woodcock; prized as a game bird [syn:
       American woodcock, woodcock snipe, Philohela minor]

Snipe \Snipe\, n. [OE. snipe; akin to D. snep, snip, LG. sneppe,
   snippe, G. schnepfe, Icel. sn[imac]pa (in comp.), Dan.
   sneppe, Sw. sn[aum]ppa a sanpiper, and possibly to E. snap.
   See Snap, Snaffle.]
   1. (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of limicoline game
      birds of the family Scolopacidae, having a long,
      slender, nearly straight beak.
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   Note: The common, or whole, snipe (Gallinago c[oe]lestis)
         and the great, or double, snipe (Gallinago major),
         are the most important European species. The Wilson's
         snipe (Gallinago delicata) (sometimes erroneously
         called English snipe) and the gray snipe, or
         dowitcher (Macrohamphus griseus), are well-known
         American species.
         [1913 Webster]

   2. A fool; a blockhead. [R.] --Shak.
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   Half snipe, the dunlin; the jacksnipe.

   Jack snipe. See Jacksnipe.

   Quail snipe. See under Quail.

   Robin snipe, the knot.

   Sea snipe. See in the Vocabulary.

   Shore snipe, any sandpiper.

   Snipe hawk, the marsh harrier. [Prov. Eng.]

   Stone snipe, the tattler.

   Summer snipe, the dunlin; the green and the common European
      sandpipers.

   Winter snipe. See Rock snipe, under Rock.

   Woodcock snipe, the great snipe.
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Woodcock \Wood"cock`\, n. [AS. wuducoc.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. (Zool.) 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.
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   Note: 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]

   2. Fig.: A simpleton. [Obs.]
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            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.
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   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.
      [1913 Webster]