wood (woods plural )
1 n-mass Wood is the material which forms the trunks and branches of trees.
Their dishes were made of wood..., There was a smell of damp wood and machine oil., ...a short piece of wood.
2 n-count A wood is a fairly large area of trees growing near each other. You can refer to one or several of these areas as woods, and this is the usual form in American English.
After dinner Alice slipped away for a walk in the woods with Artie..., About a mile to the west of town he came upon a large wood.
4 If something or someone is not out of the woods yet, they are still having difficulties or problems.
INFORMAL
not out of the woods phrase v-link PHR
The nation's economy is not out of the woods yet.
5 You can say `touch wood' in British English, or `knock on wood' in American English, to indicate that you hope to have good luck in something you are doing, usually after saying that you have been lucky with it so far.
touch wood convention
She's never even been to the doctor's, touch wood..., Touch wood, I've been lucky enough to avoid any other serious injuries.
6 →
your neck of the woods →
neck →
can't see the wood for the trees →
tree
dead wood
People or things that have been used for a very long time and that are no longer considered to be useful can be referred to as dead wood. n-uncount
(disapproval)
...the idea that historical linguistics is so much dead wood.
wood-burning stove (wood-burning stoves plural )A wood-burning stove is the same as a wood stove. n-count
wood carving (wood carvings plural )A wood carving is a decorative piece of wood that has been carved in an artistic way. n-var
wood pulp
Wood pulp is wood that has been cut up into small pieces and crushed. Wood pulp is used to make paper. n-uncount
wood stove (wood stoves plural )
in AM, also use woodstove A wood stove is a device that burns wood in order to heat a room. n-count
