woodstock
woodstock Lexical Profile
• noun
American A landmark music and art festival held in August 1969 on a dairy farm in Bethel, New York, which became a defining cultural event of the 1960s hippie counterculture.
"Hundreds of thousands of young people traveled to upstate New York to attend Woodstock in the summer of 1969."
American A town in Ulster County, New York, United States, historically famous as an active artists' colony and serving as the namesake for the iconic 1969 music festival.
British A market town in Oxfordshire, England, located northwest of Oxford, renowned historically as a royal residence and the site of Blenheim Palace.
Word Nuance & Usage
Though officially the name of a town in New York, 'Woodstock' is most famously used as a synecdoche for the 1969 music festival, which was actually held roughly 40 miles away in Bethel, New York.
Word Origin & Etymology
Derived from Old English 'wudu' (wood) and 'stoc' (place or settlement). It was historically used as a place name in England before being adopted for locations in North America.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.