Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Woodcock \Wood"cock`\, n. [AS. wuducoc.]
   1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of several species of long-billed
      limicoline birds belonging to the genera {Scolopax} and
      {Philohela}. They are mostly nocturnal in their habits,
      and are highly esteemed as game birds.

   Note: The most important species are the European ({Scolopax
         rusticola}) and the American woodcock ({Philohela
         minor}), which agree very closely in appearance and
         habits.

   2. Fig.: A simpleton. [Obs.]

            If I loved you not, I would laugh at you, and see
            you Run your neck into the noose, and cry, ``A
            woodcock!''                           --Beau. & Fl.

   {Little woodcock}.
      (a) The common American snipe.
      (b) The European snipe.

   {Sea woodcock fish}, the bellows fish.

   {Woodcock owl}, the short-eared owl ({Asio brachyotus}).

   {Woodcock shell}, the shell of certain mollusks of the genus
      {Murex}, having a very long canal, with or without spines.
      

   {Woodcock snipe}. See under {Snipe}.

Snipe \Snipe\, n. [OE. snipe; akin to D. snep, snip, LG. sneppe,
   snippe, G. schnepfe, Icel. sn[=i]pa (in comp.), Dan. sneppe,
   Sw. sn["a]ppa a sanpiper, and possibly to E. snap. See
   {Snap}, {Snaffle}.]
   1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of limicoline game
      birds of the family {Scolopacid[ae]}, having a long,
      slender, nearly straight beak.

   Note: The common, or whole, snipe ({Gallinago c[oe]lestis})
         and the great, or double, snipe ({G. major}), are the
         most important European species. The Wilson's snipe
         ({G. delicata}) (sometimes erroneously called English
         snipe) and the gray snipe, or dowitcher ({Macrohamphus
         griseus}), are well-known American species.

   2. A fool; a blockhead. [R.] --Shak.

   {Half snipe}, the dunlin; the jacksnipe.

   {Jack snipe}. See {Jacksnipe}.

   {Quail snipe}. See under {Quail}.

   {Robin snipe}, the knot.

   {Sea snipe}. See in the Vocabulary.

   {Shore snipe}, any sandpiper.

   {Snipe hawk}, the marsh harrier. [Prov. Eng.]

   {Stone snipe}, the tattler.

   {Summer snipe}, the dunlin; the green and the common European
      sandpipers.

   {Winter snipe}. See {Rock snipe}, under {Rock}.

   {Woodcock snipe}, the great snipe.

Source : WordNet®

woodcock snipe
     n 1: Old World snipe larger and darker than the whole snipe [syn:
           {great snipe}, {Gallinago media}]
     2: small long-billed American woodcock; prized as a game bird
        [syn: {American woodcock}, {Philohela minor}]