holt

Definition

A small piece of woodland or a woody hill; a copse.

Etymology

From Middle English holt, from Old English holt (“forest, wood, grove, thicket; wood, timber”), from Proto-West Germanic *holt, from Proto-Germanic *hultą (“wood”), from Proto-Indo-European *kald-, *klād- (“timber, log”), from Proto-Indo-European *kola-, *klā- (“to beat, hew, break, destroy, kill”). Cognate with Scots holt (“a wood, copse, thicket”), North Frisian holt (“wood, timber”), West Frisian hout (“timber, wood”), Dutch hout (“wood, timber”), German Holz (“wood”), Icelandic holt (“woodland, hillock”), Old Irish caill (“forest, wood, woodland”), Ancient Greek κλάδος (kládos, “branch, shoot, twig”), Slovene kol ("stake"), Albanian shul (“door latch”). Doublet of hout.

Example Sentences

• "As over Holt and Heath, as thorough Frith and Fell;"
• "[the gale] 'Twould blow like this through holt and hanger."
• "Once, at our cottage at Dodford, a tiny thatched village under a steep holt full of foxgloves..."