Meanings
- obsoleteuncountableMadness, fury.
[…] with fell woodnes he effierced was, And wilfully him throwing on the gras Did beat and bounse his head and brest ful sore […].
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 5671 more example
[…] This sodaine chaunge from feasting vnto fray Might well be likened to the Sea: whych standing at a stay The woodnesse of the windes makes rough by raising of the waue.
1567, Ovid, “The Fyft Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Old Englishwōdnes
- Middle Englishwoodnesse
- Englishwoodness
From Middle English woodnesse, wodnesse, from Old English wōdnes, corresponding to wood (“mad, insane”) + -ness.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
woodness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/woodness
“woodness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/woodness. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “woodness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/woodness.
Source: woodness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.