Snipe n.
 1. Zool. Any one of numerous species of limicoline game birds of the family Scolopacidae, having a long, slender, nearly straight beak.
 Note: ☞ The common, or whole, snipe (Gallinago cœlestis) and the great, or double, snipe (Gallinago major), are the most important European species. The Wilson's snipe (Gallinago 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.]
 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.
 Wood·cock n.
 1. Zool. 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.
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 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]