Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In England, the steward or overseer of a wood or forest.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • You come to a spinney where a ride has been cut through by the woodreeve, and it is all in the same line.

    First and Last Hilaire Belloc 1911

  • When I drive the herds it shall be at the neighbours 'bidding whereso they will; not necks of men shall I smite, but the stalks of the tall wheat, and the boles of the timber-trees which the woodreeve hath marked for felling; the stilts of the plough rather than the hilts of the sword shall harden my hands; my shafts shall be for the deer, and my spears for the wood-boar, till war and sorrow fall upon us, and I fight for the ceasing of war and trouble.

    The Roots of the Mountains; Wherein Is Told Somewhat of the Lives of the Men of Burgdale William Morris 1865

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