Paddock

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpædÉ™k/

From Middle English paddok, equivalent to pad("frog or toad") + -ock.

Alternative forms

• padock obsolete

Full definition of paddock

Noun

1. (archaic except in dialects) A frog or toad.
• WycliffeSoothly if thou wilt not deliver, lo! I shall smite all thy terms with paddocks. (Exodus 8:2)
• SpenserThe grisly toadstool grown there might I see,
  And loathed paddocks lording on the same.
• ShakespearePaddock calls (Macbeth 1.1.10)

Derived terms

• paddock pipe
• paddock stone
• paddock stool

Alteration of Middle English parrok, parrock ("enclosure, fence, paddock"), from Old English pearroc, pearruc ("enclosure, fence"), from Proto-Germanic *parrukaz ("enclosure, fence"), from Proto-Germanic *parr- ("stake, bar, beam, fence-post"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)par- ("beam, log") + Proto-Germanic *-ukaz, *-ikaz (See -ock). Cognate with Dutch perk ("flowerbed, garden, pen"), German Pferch ("sheepfold, sheep-pen"), Danish park ("pond"). Related to park, spar.

Noun

1. A small enclosure or field of grassland, especially for horses.
• Orwell Animal Farm|1... the two of them usually spent their Sundays together in the small paddock beyond the orchard, grazing side by side and never speaking.
2. (Australia, New Zealand) A field of grassland of any size, especially for keeping sheep or cattle.
3. An area where horses are paraded and mounted before a race and unsaddled after a race.
4. Land, fenced or otherwise delimited, which is most often part of a sheep or cattle property.
5. (motor racing) An area at circuit where the racing vehicles are parked and worked on before and between races.

Derived terms

• heifer paddock
• long paddock

Verb

1. To provide with a paddock. To keep in, or place in, a paddock.----