Definition of "paddock"

(also figuratively) A small enclosure or field of grassland, especially one used to exercise or graze horses or other animals.  quotations  examples

(by extension)

1. (horse racing) An enclosure next to a racecourse where horses are paraded and mounted before a race and unsaddled after a race.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • We left the carriage, bought programmes, and walked across the infield and then across the smooth thick turf of the course to the paddock. […] The paddock was fairly well filled with people and they were walking the horses around in a ring under the trees behind the grand stand.

     1929 May–October, Ernest Hemingway, chapter 20, in A Farewell to Arms, 1st British edition, London: Jonathan Cape […], published 1929, book II, page 138

   • You remind me of a two-year-old, Dinny—one of those whipcordy chestnuts that kick up their heels in the paddock, get left at the post, and come in first after all.

     1931 November, John Galsworthy, chapter XXIV, in Maid in Waiting, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: The Ryerson Press, published 1931, page 211

2. (motor racing) An area at a racing circuit where the racing vehicles are parked and worked on before and between races.  examples

3. (sports, slang) A field on which a game is played; a playing field.

4. (Australia, New Zealand) A field of grassland of any size, either enclosed by fences or delimited by geographical boundaries, especially a large area for keeping cattle or sheep.  examples

5. (chiefly Australia, New Zealand, mining) A place in a superficial deposit where ore or washdirt (“earth rich enough in metal to pay for washing”) is excavated; also, a place for storing ore, washdirt, etc.  examples

(often passive voice) To place or keep (cattle, horses, sheep, or other animals) within a paddock (noun sense 1 or 2.4); hence, to provide (such animals) with pasture.  quotations  examples

To enclose or fence in (land) to form a paddock.  quotations  examples

(mining)

1. (also intransitive) To excavate washdirt (“earth rich enough in metal to pay for washing”) from (a superficial deposit).  examples

2. (obsolete) To store (ore, washdirt, etc.) in a paddock (noun sense 2.5).

(chiefly Northern England, Northern Ireland, Scotland)

1. A frog.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Also the Lord seide to Moises, Entre thou to Farao, and thou schalt seie to hym, The Lord seith these thingis, Delyuere thou my puple, that it make sacrifice to me; sotheli if thou nylt delyuere, lo! Y schal smyte alle thi termys with paddoks; and the flood schal buyle out paddokis, […]Also the Lord said to Moses, enter thou to Pharaoh, and thou shalt say to him, The Lord saith these things, Deliver thou my people, that it make sacrifice to me; soothly [truly] if thou nilt [wilt not] deliver, lo! I shall smite all thy terms [lands] with paddocks; and the flood shall boil out paddocks; […]]

     , edited by Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden, The Holy Bible, […], volume I (in Middle English), Oxford: At the University Press, published 1850, Exodus VIII:1–3, page 208, column 2

   • It is apparent that there be three kinds of Frogs of the earth, the firſt is the little greene Frog: the ſecond is this Padocke, hauing a crooke back, called in Latine Rubeta Gibboſa, and the third is the Toade, commonly called Rubotax, Bufo. […] As ſoone as theſe Paddocks come once into the ayre, out of their cloſe places of generation and habitation, they ſvvell and ſo die.

     1608, Edward Topsell, “Of the Paddcke[sic] or Crooked Backe Frogge”, in The Historie of Serpents. Or, The Second Booke of Liuing Creatures: […], London: […] William Jaggard, pages 186–187

   • The vvater-Snake, vvhom Fiſh and Paddocks fed, / VVith ſtaring Scales lies poyſon'd in his Bed: […]

     1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], page 120, lines 812–813

   • Ower mony maisters—ower mony maisters, as the paddock said to the harrow, when every tooth gae her a tig.Reproducing Scots speech.]

     , chapter XIII, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, pages 307–308

   • He put out his hand with repulsion; it lay like a cold paddock on her knee.

     1938, Graham Greene, chapter 3, in Brighton Rock, London: William Heinemann & The Bodley Head, published 1970, part 3, page 111

2. A toad.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Where I was wont to ſeeke the honey Bee, / Working her formall rowmes in Wexen frame: / The grieſlie Todeſtoole growne there mought I ſe / And loathed Paddocks lording on the ſame.Where I was wont to seek the honey bee, / Working her formal rooms in waxen frame: / The grisly toadstool grown there might I see / And loathed paddocks lording on the same.

     1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “December. Aegloga Duodecima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […]; reprinted as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, The Shepheardes Calender […], London: John C. Nimmo, […], 1890, folio 49, verso

   • Padock calls anon: faire is foule, and foule is faire, / Houer through the fogge and filthie ayre.“Padock” is a spirit in the shape of a toad. (The First Folio probably contains a misprint; “Padock calls.” is spoken by the second witch, “Anon!” by the third witch, and then all three witches say in unison “Faire is foule, and foule is faire, […]”.)

     c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i], page 131, column 1

   • [F]rom the hall wherein the mourners died / A grey wolf glared, and o'er his head the bat / Hung, and the paddock on the hearth-stone sat.

     1870, William Morris, “October: The Man Who Never Laughed Again”, in The Earthly Paradise: A Poem, part III, London: F[rederick] S[tartridge] Ellis, […], page 240

3. (derogatory) A contemptible, or malicious or nasty, person.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • [T]here was grandfaither's siller tester in the puddock’s heart of him.

     1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Black Andie’s Tale of Tod Lapraik”, in Catriona, London, Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson & Sons, page 182

(Scotland) A simple, usually triangular, sledge which is dragged along the ground to transport items.  examples