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Webster 1913 Edition


Wooden

Wood′en

,
Adj.
1.
Made or consisting of wood; pertaining to, or resembling, wood;
as, a
wooden
box; a
wooden
leg; a
wooden
wedding
.
2.
Clumsy; awkward; ungainly; stiff; spiritless.
When a bold man is out of countenance, he makes a very
wooden
figure on it.
Collier.
His singing was, I confess, a little
wooden
.
G. MacDonald.
Wooden spoon
.
(a)
(Cambridge University, Eng.)
The last junior optime who takes a university degree, – denoting one who is only fit to stay at home and stir porridge.
“We submit that a wooden spoon of our day would not be justified in calling Galileo and Napier blockheads because they never heard of the differential calculus.”
Macaulay.
(b)
In some American colleges, the lowest appointee of the junior year; sometimes, one especially popular in his class, without reference to scholarship. Formerly, it was a custom for classmates to present to this person a wooden spoon with formal ceremonies.
Wooden ware
,
a general name for buckets, bowls, and other articles of domestic use, made of wood.
Wooden wedding
.
See under
Wedding
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Wooden

WOODEN

,
Adj.
[from wood.]
1.
Made of wood; consisting of wood; as a wooden box; a wooden leg; a wooden horse.
2.
Clumsy; awkward.
When a bold man is put out of countenance, he makes a very wooden figure on it.

Definition 2024


wooden

wooden

English

Alternative forms

  • wodden (obsolete)

Adjective

wooden (comparative more wooden, superlative most wooden)

  1. Made of wood.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 12, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs, […], and all these articles […] made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.
    a wooden boat
  2. (figuratively) As if made of wood, moving awkwardly, unmoving.

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