woodwork

Etymology

It is a compound from English wood + work.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The craft of working in wood: 1297–1300, in a record printed in Neilson's Customary Rents.^[2] Etymonline dates the sense "carpentry" to the mid 15th century,^[3] Merriam-Webster's first date is about 1609,^[5] and Dictionary.com's 1640–50.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the craft, the word passed to its products: wood that has been worked, especially the wooden parts of a building or object (1553), and items made of wood (1561).^[2][3] The craft later became a school subject.^[2] In gardening it was used for a grove of trees planted in a pattern (1699, now historical), and for forestry (1738).^[2] In football slang the woodwork is the frame of the goal (1894).^[2] The phrase to come or crawl out of the woodwork, to emerge from hiding or obscurity, usually of someone unwelcome, is recorded from 1921,^[2] by 1960 in Etymonline;^[3] the image is of insects or vermin emerging from crevices in a building.^[6][7] The opposite, to disappear into the woodwork, follows in 1940.^[2]

Timeline

• 1297–1300 – the craft of working in wood.^[2]
• 1553 – worked wood; the wooden parts of something.^[2]
• 1561 – articles made of wood.^[2]
• 1699 – a grove of trees planted in a pattern in a garden.^[2]
• 1894 – in football, the frame of the goal.^[2]
• 1921 – to come out of the woodwork.^[2]
• 1940 – to disappear into the woodwork.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The wooden parts of a building or room, such as doors, staircases and moldings: The woodwork in the hall was painted white.^[8][9][5][2]
2. The craft of making things from wood, especially as a school subject.^[2]
3. (football, slang) The frame of the goal: His shot hit the woodwork.^[2]
4. come (or crawl) out of the woodwork: to appear suddenly from hiding or obscurity, usually of unwelcome people or things.^[9][2][7]

Related words

• wood
• work
• woodworking
• woodworker

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Tréguer, Pascal, Word Histories, wordhistories.net, p. "origin of ‘to crawl out of the woodwork’", 21 April 2018
7. ^ a b Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster