haycock

See also: Haycock

English

Haycocks in a field in Ireland

Etymology

From Middle English haycoke; equivalent to hay +‎ cock (“conical heap”).

Noun

haycock (plural haycocks)

1. A small, conical stack of hay left in a field to dry before adding to a haystack.
   • [c. 1788–1789], [Jane Austen], “Henry and Eliza: a novel”, in Volume the First, page 87:

     [T]hey perceived lying closely concealed beneath the thick foliage of a Haycock, a beautifull little Girl not more than 3 months old.

   • 1917, Edward Thomas, “Adlestrop”, in Poems, London: Selwyn & Blount, page 40:

     And willows, willow-herb, and grass, / And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, / No whit less still and lonely fair / Than the high cloudlets in the sky.

References

• “haycock”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.