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.

Simplified etymology

Coppice, recorded in late medieval English, goes back to Latin colpus, “a blow.” Its woodland sense developed from the practice of cutting trees back with repeated blows.

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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External links

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