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Any one of numerous species of scansorial birds belonging to Picus and many allied genera of the family Picidæ.

Attached to, found in or upon, or frequenting, woods or trees; as, arboreal animals. Woodpeckers are eminently arboreal. Darwin.

A california woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus), noted for its habit of inserting acorns in holes which it drills in trees. The acorns become infested by insect larvæ, which, when grown, are extracted for food by the bird.

A small European woodpecker (Picus minor).

The European green woodpecker; -- also called ecall, eaquall, yaffle. [Prov. Eng.]

The golden-winged woodpecker (Colaptes aurutus); -- so called from its spring note. Called also yellow-hammer, high-holder, pigeon woodpecker, and yucca. The cackle of the flicker among the oaks. Thoureau.

a magpie (in allusion to its black and white color)] (Zoöl.), the European great spotted woodpecker (Dryobstes major); -- called also wood pie. -- French polish. (a) A preparation for the surface of woodwork, consisting of gums dissolved in alcohol, either shellac alone, or shellac with other gums added. (b) The glos…

The European green woodpecker; also, the spotted woodpecker. [Prov. Eng.]

iron. -- Green ware, articles of pottery molded and shaped, but not yet baked. -- Green woodpecker (Zoöl.), a common European woodpecker (Picus viridis); -- called also yaffle.

The European green woodpecker. See Yaffle.

The lesser spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopus minor) of Europe. [Prov. Eng.]

The European green woodpecker or yaffle. [Written also high- hoo.]

A large, handsome, North American woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), having a large, sharp, ivory-colored beak. Its general color is glossy black, with white secondaries, and a white dorsal stripe. The male has a large, scarlet crest. It is now rare, and found only in the Gulf States.

The pileated woodpecker.

logs from the forest for lumber; a lumberman. [U.S.] Lumberers have a notion that he (the woodpecker) is harmful to timber. Lowell.

Mountain linnet (Zoöl.), the twite. -- Mountain magpie. (Zoöl.) (a) The yaffle, or green woodpecker. (b) The European gray shrike. -- Mountain mahogany (Bot.) See under Mahogany. -- Mountain meal (Min.), a light powdery variety of calcite, occurring as an efflorescence. -- Mountain milk (Min.), a soft spongy variet…

The European woodpecker, or yaffle; -- called also nicker pecker.

One who, or that which, pecks; specif., a bird that pecks holes in trees; a woodpecker.

The lesser woodpecker. [Obs.] Bailey.

An extensive division of birds which includes the woodpeckers, toucans, trogons, hornbills, kingfishers, motmots, rollers, and goatsuckers. By some writers it is made to include also the cuckoos, swifts, and humming birds.