[Orig. two words, WILD a. 4 and WOOD sb.] A forest of natural growth, or allowed to grow naturally; an uncultivated or unfrequented wood. (In later use chiefly poet.)
a. 1122. O. E. Chron. (Laud. MS.), an. 963. Syððon com se biscop Aðelwold to þære mynstre þe wæs ʓehaten Medeshamstede … ne fand þær nan þing buton ealde weallas & wilde wuda.
c. 1205. Lay., 25905. Þer þe eotend unc ifeng forð mid him seoluen fiftene mile into þisse wilde wude.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. x. 18. The glorie of his wilde wode. Ibid., Zech. xi. 2. Ȝoule, ȝe ookis of Basan, for the stronge wijlde wod is kitt doun.
1814. Scott, Mass of Glencoe, ii. Those for whom I pour the lay, Not wild-wood deep, nor mountain grey … Could screen from treach’rous cruelty.
a. 1864. Hawthorne, Amer. Note-Bks. (1879), II. 102. Whether in garden or wild-wood.
1884. Ruskin, in Pall Mall Gaz., 10 Dec., 11/2. Such a piece of mountain wildwood.
attrib. a. 1568. in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club), 291/73. Ane heklit hud maid of the wyld wode sege.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., IV. ii. 390. When With wild wood-leaues & weeds, I ha’ strew’d his graue.
1776. Mickle, trans. Camoens’ Lusiad, 40. The turf his bed, the wild wood boughs his shade.
1794. S. T. Coleridge, in J. D. Campbell, Life, ii. (1894), 34. I had been wandering among the wildwood scenery and terrible graces of the Welsh mountains to wear away, not to revive, the images of the past!
1814. Wordsw., Yarrow Visited, 66. How sweet, on this autumnal day, The wild-wood fruits to gather.
1856. Whittier, Mayflowers, ii.
| What had she in those dreary hours, | |
| Within her ice-rimmed bay, | |
| In common with the wild-wood flowers, | |
| The first sweet smiles of May? |
