coppice

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an area of woodland managed by periodically cutting trees or shrubs near the base so that new shoots provide a recurring supply of wood

   The forester divided the hazel coppice into sections to be cut on a regular cycle.

2. 2
   noun

   chiefly British: a small, dense wood or thicket

   A narrow path disappeared into the coppice beside the stream.

3. 3
   verb

   to cut back a tree, shrub, or wooded area near ground level in order to stimulate new growth

   They coppice the willows every few years for basket-making rods.

From Middle English copies, from Old French copeiz, 'a cut-over wood,' ultimately from a Late Latin formation based on colpus, 'a blow,' from Latin colaphus and Ancient Greek kolaphos. The history reflects the repeated cutting that defines traditional coppice management; copse is a later contracted form.

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