coppice

plural coppices · alternative obsolete coppis

1. A grove of small growth; a thicket of brushwood; a wood cut at certain times for fuel or other purposes, typically managed to promote growth and ensure a reliable supply of timber. See copse.

   It was also enacted that all coppices or underwoods should be enclosed for periods from four to seven years after felling.

   1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 216

   2 more examples

   […]belts of thin white mist streaked the brown plough land in the hollow where Appleby could see the pale shine of a winding river. Across that in turn, meadow and coppice rolled away past the white walls of a village bowered in orchards,[…]

   1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 1, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC

   At the time of the Norman Conquest, any village with woodland had one or more coppices of about 80 acres. […] Coppice trees are periodically cut to a level just above the ground. […] Hazel forms most English coppices, but there are also coppices of alder, oak, wych elm and willow.

   1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 118

   Synonyms: copse

present singular third person coppices · participle present coppicing · participle past coppiced · past coppiced · alternative obsolete coppis

1. transitiveTo manage (a wooded area) sustainably, as a coppice, by periodically cutting back woody plants to promote new growth.

   Her plan to coppice the woods should keep her self-sufficient in fuel indefinitely.

2. intransitiveTo sprout from the stump.

   Few conifer species can coppice.