subs. (old).—1. A simpleton: see BUFFLE and CABBAGE-HEAD.
1593. SHAKESPEARE, Taming of the Shrew, i. 2. O this WOODCOCK! what an ass it is!
1614. OVERBURY, Characters, ‘A Roaring Boy.’ He cheats young guls that are newly come to towne; and when the keeper of the Ordinary blames him for it, he answers him in his owne profession, that a WOODCOCKE must be pluckt ere he be drest.
2. (common).—A tailor.
