α. 1600s picke-a-tree, 1600s– pick-a-tree.
β. 1600s picktree, 1600s pictree.
pick-a-treen.
/ˈpɪkətriː/, U.S. /ˈpɪkəˌtri/ English regional (northern). Now rare.
A woodpecker; esp. the green woodpecker, Picus viridis.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Piciformes > [noun] > family Picidae > genus Picus (woodpecker) > picus viridis (green woodpecker)
rain-fowl1440
woodwall1490
speight1513
hickwall?1533
rainbird1544
woodspite1555
green-peak1598
yaffingale1609
pick-a-tree1615
witwall1668
storm cock1769
nicker-pecker1787
yaffle1792
awl-bird1802
popinjay1802
yaffler1802
dirt-bird1847
yuckle1847
stock eagle1884
nicker1886
1615 R. Brathwait Strappado 134 A nimble Squirrell, or a picke-a tree.
1647 J. Hall Poems i. 4 Pictrees feed the Divel nine times a day.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. 276/1 A Wood-pecker, or Wood-spite,..in the North of England Pickatrees.
1769 J. Wallis Nat. Hist. Northumberland I. 321 The lesser spotted Woodpecker... Our common people call them Pick-a-trees, also Rain-fowl.
1797 R. Beilby & T. Bewick Hist. Brit. Birds I. 116 (heading) The Green Woodpecker. Woodspite, High-hoe, hew-hole, or pick-a-tree.
1831 J. Rennie Montagu's Ornithol. Dict. (ed. 2) 372 Pick-a-tree, a name for the Popinjay.
1885 C. Swainson Provinc. Names Brit. Birds 100 Green Woodpecker... Pick a tree (North).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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