weald

(weeld)  n

Definition:
wooded or uncultivated country; woodland


The Weald:
a region of SE England, in Kent, Surrey, and East and West Sussex between the North Downs and the South Downs: formerly forested


Origin:
before 1150; Middle English weeld, O.E. (W.Saxon) weald "forest, woodland," specifically the forest between the North and South Downs in Sussex, Kent, and Surrey; a W.Saxon variant of Anglian wald; perhaps connected to wild

Related:
Synonyms: woodland

Sentence Examples:
• How different is the pursuit of the pheasant with the aid of spaniels in the thick covers of the weald, or tracking him with a single setter among some of the wilder portions of the forest range!—intently observing your dog and anticipating the wily artifices of some old cock, with spurs as long as a dragon's, who will sometimes lead you for a mile through bog, brake, fern, and heather, before the sudden drop of your staunch companion, and a rigidity in all his limbs, satisfy you that you have at last compelled the bird to squat under that wide holly-bush, from whence you kick him up, and feel some little exultation as you bring him down with a snap-shot, having only caught a glimpse of him through the evergreen boughs, as he endeavoured to escape by a rapid flight at the opposite side of the tree. - Highways & Byways in Sussex, E.V. Lucas

• One's gaze looked forth from it upon the endless middle distances of the oak-clad Weald, with the uncertain blue line of the South Downs in the background. Ridge behind ridge, the long, low hills of paludina limestone stood out in successive tiers, each thrown up against its neighbor by the misty haze that broods eternally over the wooded valley; till, roaming across them all, the eye rested at last on the rearing scarp of Chanctonbury Ring, faintly pencilled on the furthest skyline. - The Woman Who Did, Grant Allen

• Wide-branched oaks were intermingled with beeches and copsewood of various descriptions so closely in some places as to intercept the sunshine. In others the trees receded from each other, forming wide vistas that gave glimpses of other recesses of sylvan solitude. Down the long sunlit glades the gold belted bees sounded their humming horns through every flowery town of the weald. - In Doublet and Hose, Lucy Foster Madison

Sources: Dictionary.com, Free Dictionary, Online Etymology

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