| 释义 |
wooden, a.|ˈwʊd(ə)n|
Also 6–7 wodden, woodden, 6–8 woden.
[f. wood n.1 + -en4.]
I.
1. a. Made or consisting of wood.
1538Elyot Dict., Durateus, wodden. 1577Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. 37 Raking them with woodden Rakes. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades ii. ii. (1592) 121 To fall downe prostrate before a wooden Idoll. 1611Coryat Crudities 34 The images of many of the French Kings, set in certain wodden [ed. 1776 woden] cupbords. 1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xxiv. ⁋1 If the Joyner performed his Work well in making the Wooden-work. 1683J. Reid Scots Gard'ner (1907) 40 Beat every two or three rows of turf, while moist, with the wooden-beater. 1726Swift Gulliver ii. vii, A kind of wooden Machine. 1831Scott Ct. Rob. xv, A massive wooden stool. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxvii. 197, I reached a wooden hut. 1898A. Austin Lamia's Winter Quarters 69 The slowly-rolling wheels of a wooden wain..with wooden wheels, wooden pole, and wooden yoke.
b. transf. in various occas. senses: Made or produced by means of wood; dull or dead, as the sound of wood when struck; relating to or occupied with wood; full of objects made of wood; hard and stiff like wood.
1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 155 Like a strutting Player..To heare the woodden Dialogue and sound 'Twixt his stretcht footing, and the Scaffolage. 1610― Temp. iii. i. 62, I..would no more endure This wodden slauerie [sc. piling logs]. 1663Butler Hud. i. ii. 699 Secure from Wooden Blow. 1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. iii. 57 Put the whole lump into a wooden Fire. 1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 261 Trees..useful for the Carpenter, Joyner, or other wooden Tradesman to work upon. 1897Howells Landlord at Lion's Head 442 In the woodenest outskirts of North Cambridge. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 762 A feeling as if the throat were ‘wooden’. 1899J. Hutchinson in Archives Surg. X. No. 38 Descr. Plate xvii, The fingers have..become slender, pale and wooden.
2. fig. Having some quality likened to the hard dry consistence of wood, or to its inferior value as compared with precious metal or the like.
a. Lacking grace, liveliness, interest, or the like; expressionless, spiritless; dull and inert; stiff and lifeless.
a1566R. Edwards Damon & Pithias (1571) B 3 b, He wyll neuer blush, he hath a wodden face. 1625Bacon Ess., Boldness (Arb.) 519 When a Bold Fellow is out of Countenance;..that puts his Face into a most Shruncken, and woodden Posture. 1813R. H. in Examiner 17 May 315/2 The drawing and character are..in some parts feeble and wooden. 1863Kinglake Crimea I. xiv. 215 The seeming poverty of his intellect, his blank wooden looks. 1887Saintsbury Hist. Elizab. Lit. iv. (1890) 130 This earlier and woodener matter [of poetry]. 1899Athenæum 29 Apr. 526/1 A dryasdust antiquary of the most wooden type.
b. Of persons or their attributes: Mentally dull; insensitive, inapprehensive; unintelligent, blockish.
a1586Sidney Astr. & Stella Sonn. vii, Who have so leaden eyes, as not to see sweete Beauties showe: Or seeing, have so wooden wits as not that worth to knowe. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. iii. 89 Ile win this Lady Margaret. For whom? Why for my King: Tush, that's a woodden thing. 1659S. Lee Temple of Solomon 194 Their lying wonders..so often recited in their wodden Legends. a1697Aubrey Lett. Eminent Persons (1813) II. 453 note, The Rumpe of a House, 'twas the wooden invention of Generall Browne (a woodmonger). 1698Christ Exalted 40 To talk of a Law that admits of Sin, is to make the Maker of such a wooden Law to be little better than a wooden God. 1805Moore To Lady Heathcote 51 Those fops..With heads as wooden as thy ware, And, Heaven knows! not half so polish'd. 1830Galt Lawrie T. iv. ii. (1849) 150 The sight of that wooden old man, as I had often spoken of him..weeping like a woman..suprised me. 1833Carlyle Ess., Diderot (1872) V. 7 Withal, however, he is wooden; thoroughly mechanical. 1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede v, He's got a bad ear for music... When people have wooden heads..it can't be helped. 1871Earle Philol. Engl. Tongue iv. 178 The wooden notion that it is an inherent quality in a word to be of this or that part of speech.
†c. Of inferior character, poor, worthless.
1592Lyly Gallanthea ii. iii, I shall haue but wodden lucke. c1630Risdon Surv. Devon §104 (1810) 100 In old time were golden prelates, and wooden chalices, but in this time, wooden prelates and golden chalices. [Cf. chalice 2 γ, quot. 1528.]1719De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 119 Making a wooden Spade..; but this did my Work in but a wooden manner.
†3.
a. Belonging to the woods, sylvan. Obs. rare.
1606Chapman Gentl. Usher i. B 2 b, Syluanas..this woodden god.
b. U.S. = wooded ppl. a. ? Obs.
1816U. Brown Jrnl. 15 Aug. in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1910) X. 358 To Smith field a Wooden Town in a Wooden Country & a wooden bred set of Tavern-keepers. 1843Carlton New Purchase 50 Our wooden country's mighty rough..for some folks. 1843Ibid. 115 Religious meetings in the wooden world. 1891M. E. Ryan Pagan of Alleghanies i. 12 And then there are others more seldom seen, the women from the ‘wooden’ country of the interior.
II. Special Collocations.
†4. wooden cut: = woodcut. So wooden picture, wooden print. Obs.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing 1 Cutting their Letters upon Blocks in whole Pages or Forms, as among us our Wooden Pictures are Cut. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 31 Printed from a Wooden Cut the Picture of a Bear baited by six Dogs. 1706Hearne Collect. 25 Feb. (O.H.S.) I. 194 Raphael, a Wooden Print. 1770Luckombe Hist. Printing 92 Elegant initial letters, and fine wooden cuts. 1837Hallam Lit. Eur. I. i. ix. §18. 470 Otto Bremfels of Strasburg..published a.. work in three volumes folio, with 238 wooden cuts of plants. [1848Lowell Fab. Critics 1596 note, Cuts rightly called wooden, as all must admit.]
5. wooden horse.
a. [cf. L. equus ligneus.] A designation for a ship. Obs. or arch.
1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe 29 They are glad on their wodden horses to post after [the herring]. 1639Fuller Holy War v. xxi. (1647) 264 The Low-countreys, the best stable of woodden horses, and most potent in Shipping. 1824Scott Redgauntlet ch. xv, [He] saw nothing in this worse than an ordinary fit of sea-sickness... He assured his passenger..that he hoped to drink a can..with him..for all that he felt a little out of the way for riding the wooden horse.
b. An instrument of punishment, chiefly military, formerly in use (= horse n. 6 b): see quot. 1688. Hist.
1629Lex Scripta Isle of Man (1819) 103 The Offender [for theft]..under the Value [of 6½d.] to be whipped, or sett upon a Wooden Horse ordained for such Offenders. 1648in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iv. II. 1369 Henry Matthews and Robert Rowe were..tried by Court Marshal and sentenced to ride the Wooden-Horse at the Royal Exchange. 1678Butler Hud. iii. iii. 212 Worse Than mannaging a Wooden Horse. 1688Holme Armoury iii. xix. (Roxb.) 220/1 Moderne punishments used among the Souldiery... Ridding the wooden horse; setting him on an horse made of wood with a sharp rigged back, his hands tyed behind him, and Musketts or weights hung at his feet. c1700J. Lewis Mem. Pr. William Henry (1789) 11 The Duke bid his boys..put the taylor on the wooden horse, which stood in the presence-room for the punishment of offenders, as is usual in martial law. 1760Cautions & Advices to Officers of Army 44 Punishments..inflicted by Officers without the Sentence of a Court-Martial,..Picketting—tying neck and heels, and riding the wooden horse. 1899T. S. Baldock Cromwell 360 Two soldiers of Dean's regiment rode the ‘wooden horse’ for an hour.
†c. A name for the scaffold or gallows; also for an instrument of torture: = horse n. 25. Obs.
1642[see horse n. 25]. 1731Chandler tr. Limborch's Hist. Inquis. II. 222 A Wooden Bench, which they call the Wooden Horse [described at length].
d. The wooden figure of a horse (ἵππος δουράτεος, Odyssey viii. 492, 512) in which the Greek invaders were concealed at the siege of Troy. Hence † wooden-horse v. trans. (nonce-wd.), to capture by means of this.
1622J. Taylor (Water P.) Sir Gregory Nonsence Wks. (1630) ii. 3/2 Vntill the Woodden Horse of trusty Synon, Foald a whole litter of mad Colts in Harnesse. 1666Third Advice to Painter 32 Hark to Cassandraes Song, e're Fate destroy, By their own Navyes; Wooden-horse thy Troy. 1835Thirlwall Greece I. vi. 226 Epeus was celebrated as the builder of the wooden horse in which the heroes were concealed.
e. A wooden structure in a gymnasium, for vaulting exercise: = horse n. 6 c.
1854G. Roland Gymnastics 27 The wooden horse..interesting from the number of exercises practised upon it.
6. wooden shoe: a shoe made of wood, as the French sabot; in the 18th c. popularly taken as typical of the miserable condition of the French peasantry.
1607[see sabot 1]. 1701De Foe Trueborn Eng. i. 268 Two hundred Thousand Pair of Wooden Shooes, Who God be thanked, had nothing left to lose. 1715Addison Drummer Prol. 8 Round-heads and Wooden-shoes are standing Jokes. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xix, What! give up liberty, property, and, as the Gazetteer says, lie down to be saddled with wooden shoes! 1807–8Syd. Smith Plymley's Lett. iii. (1852) 29 He calls all hands on deck; talks to them of king, country, glory, sweethearts, gin, French prison, wooden shoes, Old England, and hearts of oak. 1818Scott Rob Roy ix, King William..our immortal deliverer from papists and pretenders, and wooden shoes and warming pans. 1859W. S. Coleman Woodlands (1862) 62 In France great numbers of the peculiar wooden shoes, called ‘sabots’, are made of Alder.
7. wooden spoon: a spoon made of wood; spec. one presented by custom at Cambridge to the last of the Junior Optimes, i.e. the lowest of those taking honours in the Mathematical Tripos; hence, this position in the examination, or the person who takes it. Also in extended use, referring to the lowest of a list or set in other connexions. Hence wooden-spooner, -spoonist, a competitor who is awarded the ‘wooden spoon’; a loser.
‘At Yale, formerly, the student who took the last appointment in the Junior Exhibition; later, the most popular student in a class’ (Cent. Dict.).
1803Gradus ad Cantab. 137 Wooden Spoon, for wooden heads:..the lowest of the Junior Optimes. 1820Byron Juan iii. cx, Sure my invention must be down at zero, And I grown one of many ‘wooden spoons’ Of verse (the name with which we Cantabs please To dub the last of honours in degrees). 1858Earl Malmesbury Mem. (1884) II. 127 The ‘wooden spoon’ which is given to the Minister in the House of Commons who has been in the fewest divisions. 1883in Standard 20 June 2/7 There was no opposition to the presentation of the time-honoured ‘Wooden Spoon’. 1900Westm. Gaz. 19 Mar. 8/2 The international matches..have now all been played,..Ireland, who won the championship last year..have only 1 point, and take the ‘wooden spoon’. 1927Daily Express 23 Mar. 13/3 Champions and wooden spoonists of the Isthmian League last season were opposed on the Civil Service ground at Chiswick. 1954J. Fingleton Ashes crown Year 275 Somerset were wooden-spooners last summer and will be so again. 1973Nation Rev. (Melbourne) 31 Aug. 1442/3 4BH slips to fourth place in the five station market, with perennial wooden spooners, 4BK, only 2000 listeners behind. 1975Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 May s5/1 England won the British soccer championship..with Wales, once again the wooden spoonists. 1981Daily Mail 25 Nov. 30 (heading) A flat rate from the wooden spoonists.
8. wooden walls (after ξύλινον τεῖχος, Herodotus vii. 141): ships or shipping as a defensive force. (Rarely in sing.)
1598W. Phillip tr. Linschoten To Rdr., Our Wodden Walles (as Themistocles called the Ships of Athens). 1598Stow Surv. 468 [484] Ships..bee the wodden walles for defence of our Realme. 1625Sanderson Serm., Ad Mag. iii. (1681) 129 Our carnal confidence and security in the strength of our wooden and watry walls. c1645in Wood's Life, etc. (O.H.S.) II. 55 Your stone and wooden wall Shall not defend you, but shall then Begin to sink and fall. 1750Beawes Lex Mercat. (1752) 248 Our wooden walls are our bulwarks and redoubts, to which we owe our safety. 1849Longfellow Building of Ship 69 Every climate, every soil, Must bring its tribute, great or small, And help to build the wooden wall! 1862Gen. P. Thompson in Bradford Advertiser 26 Apr. 6/1 Your wooden walls wherein was your trust, have become fit only for firewood, or at most for transports.
9. In various special collocations: † wooden bridle, a fanciful name for a rudder; † wooden casement, cravat, slang or jocular names for the pillory (cf. hempen cravat s.v. cravat n. 1 b); wooden cross Mil. slang, a wooden cross on a serviceman's grave; hence, death in action regarded ironically as an award of merit; † wooden dagger, the dagger of lath worn by Vice in the old moralities; † wooden doublet jocular, a coffin; wooden island (see quot.); wooden isle, a rhetorical designation for a ship; wooden kimono U.S. slang, a coffin; wooden leg, an artificial leg made of wood; also fig.; wooden mare = wooden horse, 5 b; wooden nickel (or money) U.S. slang, a worthless or counterfeit coin; chiefly in fig. phr. to take a wooden nickel and varr., to be swindled or fooled; wooden nutmeg: see nutmeg 1 b; wooden overcoat: see overcoat; wooden pear, an Australian tree, Xylomelum pyriforme, bearing hard inversely pear-shaped seed-vessels; † wooden ruff = wooden cravat (see ruff n.2 4); wooden suit slang, a coffin; wooden surtout slang, = wooden doublet; wooden tongue, an infectious disease of cattle and horses, in which the tongue is enlarged and hardened; wooden ware, articles, esp. household utensils, made of wood (sometimes written with hyphen or as one word; cf. earthenware); wooden wedding orig. U.S., the fifth anniversary of one's wedding, on which it is appropriate to give presents made of wood; wooden wedge Cambridge Univ. (see quot. and wedge n. 8).
1614Sylvester Parl. Vertues Royall 705 A skilfull Pilot,..Her winged manage rightly to command With hempen Rains, and *wooden Bridle.
1685Roxb. Ball. (1885) V. 606 To be pelted with Eggs thro' a lewd *wooden-casement.
1676Poor Robin's Intell. 4–11 Apr. 2/1 We hear of none this bout that are to wear the *Wooden Crevat.
1917A. G. Empey Over Top 314 *Wooden Cross, two pieces of wood in the form of a cross placed at the head of a Tommy's grave. 1919in Amer. Speech 1972 (1975) XLVII. 117 Seven of the ‘Blue Tails’ went down to get their Wooden Crosses. 1949A. Murphy To Hell & Back xvi. 195 There is no other branch of the army that offers so many chances for the Purple Heart, the Distinguished Wooden Cross, the Royal Order of the Mattress Covers.
1589Nashe Martins Months Minde Wks. (Grosart) I. 181 The *woodden dagger may not bee worne at the backe, where S. Paules sword, hangs by the side. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, iv. iv. 77 This roaring diuell i'th olde play [sc. Pistol], that euerie one may payre his nayles with a woodden dagger. a1625Fletcher Noble Gentl. v. i, According to his merits he should wear, A guarded coat, and a great wooden dagger.
1761[F. Forrest] Ways to kill Care Ded. p. ii, Where to find a guardian for the bawling brat, in case papa..should suddenly tumble into his *wooden doublet.
1808Ashe Trav. Amer. III. 310 *Wooden Islands, are places, where..large quantities of drift-wood have..been arrested and matted together in different parts of the river.
1603Chettle Eng. Mourn. Garm. E 3, The inhabitants of those *wooden Iles, are worthy Sea-men.
1926Maines & Grant Wise-Crack Dict. 15 *Wooden kimona, case for cold storage. 1946Mezzrow & Wolfe Really Blues ii. 19, I expected the man to turn up..with his tape measure to outfit me with a wooden kimono.
1582Aldeburgh Rec. in N. & Q. 12th Ser. VII. 366/2 Pd to ye Joyner for a *wooden Legge..xviiid. a1663Killigrew Parson's Wedd. i. iii. (1664) 81 She hates a man with all his Limbs; a Wooden-leg, a Crutch..wins her heart. 1668R. Steele Husbandman's Calling i. (1672) 7 Every man should be of some use in the body politick..else he is but an artificial member, a meer wooden leg. 1709Steele Tatler No. 48 ⁋2, I was the old Soldier who..pretended that I had broken my Wooden-Leg. 1887Besant The World went ii, His right leg had been lost in action, and was replaced by a wooden leg.
1819*Wooden mare [see mare1 2 b]. 1829Scott Old Mort. ix. note, The punishment of riding the wooden mare was..one of the..cruel modes of enforcing military discipline.
1915C. Mathewson Catcher Craig ii. 25 He was instructed..not to take any *wooden money. 1922S. Lewis Babbitt v. 67 S'long! Don't take any wooden money. 1971F. P. Grove Tales from Margin 27 ‘Well,’ said Walt, ‘be good, fellah! Don't take any wooden money!’ Even this cheap vulgarity irritated her now.
1927Amer. Speech III. 132 [College slang.] Not to ‘take any *wooden nickels’, in other words, to be alert. 1937L. Hellman Diary 23 Oct. in Unfinished Woman (1969) viii. 100 Luis and I got to Madrid. He said I was not to take any wooden nickels. 1964in Hamblett & Deverson Generation X 90 Then one night I met Johnny, one of the biggest sharks in the Mayfair aquarium, and that was the end of that. Nobody ever sold Johnny a wooden nickel. 1971M. Torrie Bismarck Herrings ii. 29 Having advised her..not to accept any wooden nickels, [he] drove back. 1971R. Dentry Encounter at Kharmel iii. 58 There hadn't been a tribal rising worth a wooden nickel since the Partition troubles died down.
1860G. Bennett Gatherings of Naturalist 322 The *Wooden Pear-tree of the colonists..is peculiar to Australia. 1889J. H. Maiden Usef. Pl. Australia 615 Xylomelum pyriforme..Native Pear. Wooden Pear.
1968W. Garner Deep, Deep, Freeze xx. 188 Any mistake on his part could win him the prize of the *wooden suit. 1972J. S. Hall Sayings from Old Smoky 42 When a guy comes and steals my stuff, he better be ready for a wooden suit or Boot Hill.
1865Slang Dict., *Wooden surtout, a coffin, generally spoken of as a wooden surtout with nails for buttons.
1884Klein Micro-organisms & Dis. xvi. 148 In cattle the disease [actinomycosis] mainifests itself by firm tumours in the jaw,..and particularly by a great enlargement and induration of the tongue—*wooden tongue. 1914Christian World 12 Mar. 3/2 A Haverfordwest saddler has died from the disease known as ‘wooden tongue’. It occurs occasionally among horses, but is extremely rare in human beings.
1727Earbery tr. Burnet's St. Dead 20 If a Man should build a fine and magnificent Seat, and fill the Inside thereof..with..*Wooden-ware and the most sordid Furniture. 1884Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 495 Large quantities of..woodenware, handles, spools, bobbins, etc.
1870D. MacRae Americans at Home II. 293 The fifth anniversary is called the *wooden wedding... The presents suitable to this anniversary are of wood. 1888Girl's Own Paper 24 Mar. 407/3 In America, too, the fifth anniversary of the marriage ceremony is known as the ‘wooden-wedding’. 1918H. Barnett Canon Barnett I. xiv. 162 In 1893 we decided to commemorate our wooden wedding by a congregational party.
1860Slang Dict. (ed. 2) *Wooden wedge, the last name in the classical honours list at Cambridge.
III. 10. Combinations, as (in sense 1) wooden-barred, wooden-hooped, wooden-hulled, wooden-legged, wooden-pinned, wooden-seated, wooden-shoed, wooden-soled, wooden-walled, adjs.; also (in sense 2 a) wooden-faced, wooden-featured adjs.; also † wooden-footed a., wooden-shoed; woodenhead, a stupid person, a blockhead; wooden-headed a., having a ‘wooden head’, stupid (hence wooden-headedness); woodentop slang, (a) a uniformed policeman; (b) a dim-wit; wooden-weary a., stupefied with weariness.
1854Poultry Chron. II. 23/1 Every one of our pens was made with an open *wooden-barred back.
1605Camden Rem. 78 By this name [sc. Dorcas], the Amorous Knights were wont to salute freckled..*wodden-faced wenches. 1863M. E. Braddon Eleanor's Vict. xxx, His nieces,..whose wooden-faced stolidity had..something..suggestive of being listened to and stared at by two Dutch clocks.
1848Dickens Dombey vii, A *wooden-featured..Major.
1670G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. i. 12, I heard a certain *wooden footed [orig. zoccolante] Frier Preach.
1831Carlyle Let. to Wife 8 Sept., I..saw the coronation procession, which seventy or eighty thousand *woodenheads besides were looking at. 1906J. Oxenham Giant Circumstance x. 140 Is it true that that woodenhead placed you under arrest?
1865Sat. Rev. 4 Feb. 143/1 That still more *wooden-headed creature, a man who fails to appreciate his value.
1850Dickens Let. to Mrs. Watson 14 Dec., For which *wooden-headedness the Child shall be taken to task.
1906Macm. Mag. Apr. 454 A large *wooden-hooped net.
1883Whitaker's Alm. 445/1 Of the *wooden-hulled vessels the largest is the Lissa.
1840Thackeray Shabby-genteel Story i, A stout old *wooden⁓legged Scotch regimental surgeon.
1895Kipling 2nd Jungle Bk., Undertakers 86 Square-sailed, *wooden-pinned barges.
1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xxv, The *wooden-seated American chairs. 1800*Wooden shoed [see sabot 1]. 1840Thackeray Paris Sk.-bk., Cartouche, Virtue..may exist among wooden-shoed Papists as well as honest Church-of-England men.
1810Milman in Biogr. Sk. i. (1900) 18 *Wooden-soled shoes. 1910Crockett Dew of Youth i. ii. 10 Tramp of wooden-soled clogs.
1981J. Wainwright All on Summer's Day 96 I'm a copper. An ordinary flatfoot... A real old *woodentop. That's me. 1983A. Beevor Faustian Pact v. 33 They've even got the bleeding Army out... Bunch of woodentops from Chelsea barracks. 1984Listener 16 Feb. 24/3 A policeman who is called a ‘butter boy’ or a ‘wolly’ must be something like a ‘woodentop’.
1891C. T. C. James Rom. Rigmarole 23, I walked on between the tall, straight stems... A sudden turn in the *wooden-walled alley..brought me face to face with a great, still lake.
1888Doughty Trav. Arabia Deserta I. 427 Hounds..*wooden-weary with long watch.
Hence (chiefly fig.) ˈwooden v. trans., (a) to render wooden; (b) Austral. and N.Z. slang, to render insensible; to knock unconscious; also const. out; ˈwoodenize v. trans. (nonce-wd.) = wooden (a); ˈwoodenly adv., in a wooden manner; ˈwoodenness, wooden quality or style; ˈwoodeny a., of a wooden quality.
1641Milton Animadv. Wks. 1851 III. 239 How little wee neede feare that the unguilding of our Prelates will prove the *woodening of our Priests. 1904‘G. B. Lancaster’ Sons o' Men 252 He'll wooden more of you out if you scare him. c1926‘Mixer’ Transport Workers' Song Bk. 126 It [sc. a block of ice] ‘woodened’ him out, and he lay there quite flat. 1952M. Allingham Tiger in Smoke xi. 184 If you 'ad only woodened 'er, we'd have 'ad all the time in the world. 1974Southerly XXXIV. 145 If you can't wooden 'em [sc. kangaroos] at a 'undred yards with one I.C.I. bullet, you're not tryin'!
1877Sinclair Mount 235 When the poetic vigour was enfeebled and *woodenised by age.
1653D. Osborne Lett. (1888) 63 You would have both pitied and laughed at me if you could have seen how *woodenly I entertained the widow. a1734North Lives (1826) I. 361 To have some sport in seeing how woodenly he would excuse himself. 1881D. C. Murray Joseph's Coat I. xi. 262 Sitting by the fireside,..looking woodenly respectable as of old. 1894W. C. Russell Good Ship ‘Mohock’ i. 15 The mechanical hireling..who does his duty woodenly.
1854H. D. Thoreau Walden 356 Many concentric layers of *woodenness in the dead dry leaf of society. 1860F. W. Faber Precious Blood ii. 66 Considerable dryness, stiffness, woodenness,..would characterize this philanthropic city. 1872Daily News 30 July, Woodenness..cannot with truth be said to be banished from the handling of the Aldershot force. 1886Spectator 6 Nov., Lit. Suppl. 1505 The book is..readable, notwithstanding faults of woodenness, which are inevitable whenever authors do not make their studies from life. 1888Sweet Hist. Eng. Sounds p. xi, The ‘woodenness’ which then characterized German philology.
1864Morning Star 19 Sept., Some of the horses..are *woodeny old screws without a pace in them beyond the regulation amble. 1885C. L. Pirkis Lady Lovelace III. xxxviii. 19 Making..hard woodeny angles against the..leaden sky. 1898P. Manson Trop. Diseases xii. 210 Woodeny hardness [of the heart-muscle]. 1905Sat. Rev. 1 Apr. 415/2 The capercailzie..gives vent to..several hard woodeny clicks. |