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wood

Pronunciation: /wʊd/

Translate wood | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of wood

noun

  • 1 [mass noun] the hard fibrous material that forms the main substance of the trunk or branches of a tree or shrub, used for fuel or timber:a block of wood [count noun]:best quality woods were used for joinery
  • (the wood) wooden barrels used for storing alcoholic drinks:wines from the wood
  • [count noun] a golf club with a wooden or other head that is relatively broad from face to back (often with a numeral indicating the degree to which the face is angled to loft the ball): [in combination]:he hit the ball with a three-wood
  • [count noun] Golf a shot made with a wood: he’s hitting a wood for his second shot
  • another term for bowl2 (sense 1 of the noun).
  • 2 (also woods) an area of land, smaller than a forest, that is covered with growing trees:a thick hedge divided the wood from the field a long walk in the woods

Phrases

be unable to see the wood (or North American the forest) for the trees

fail to grasp the main issue because of over-attention to details: it is often difficult for people in organizations to see the wood for the trees

out of the wood (or woods)

[usually with negative] out of danger or difficulty: we are not out of the woods but we have been thrown a lifeline

touch (or chiefly North American knock on) wood

said in order to prevent a confident statement from bringing bad luck:I haven’t been banned yet, touch wood
[with reference to the custom of touching something wooden to ward off bad luck]

Derivatives

woodless

adjective

Origin:

Old English wudu, from a Germanic word related to Welsh gwŷdd 'trees'

wood in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of wood in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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