Meanings
plural hickwalls · alternative hickway
- UKregionalA lesser spotted woodpecker (Dryobates minor).
- UKregionalA European green woodpecker (Picus viridis).
1 more example
[…]at Shenington for example, the churchwardens paid 4d for each Hickwall (green woodpecker) killed, but there is no record of any payment for weasels, which were worth 3d at Bodicote. One would like to know if Hickwalls were rare at Bodicote and weasels at Shenington, or if in fact they were not considered to be vermin in these parishes.
1975, Banbury Historical Society, Cake & Cockhorse, volume 6, page 126 - UKarchaicregionalA blue tit, Cyanistes caeruleus.
Tomtit, Blue Tomtit, Nun, Blue-cap, Blue-bonnet, Billy-biter, Hickwall, Blue Mope. One of the most impudent of an impudent lot.
1861, John Christopher Atkinson, British Birds' Eggs and Nests, Popularly Described, page 43
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Middle Englishhyghwhele
- Englishhickwall
From Middle English hyghwhele; also highwale (1500s) or highawe (1600s). Rarely attested before the sixteenth century, making the original form difficult to trace. Probably imitative of the bird's cry; compare yaffle (“green woodpecker”). Possibly influenced by witwall, woodwall.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
hickwall. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hickwall
“hickwall.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hickwall. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hickwall,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hickwall.
Source: hickwall on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.