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'We came across a man up at Brightling who was beating his wife with a bat in the garden. I was just going to toss the man over his own woodlump when the Boy jumped the hedge and ran at him. Of course the woman took her husband's part, and while the man beat him, the woman scratted his face.

This is from "Rewards and Fairies" by Kipling

I do not understand what "woodlump" means.

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Well let's see...

It's small enough to throw someone on
It's big enough to hide small barrels behind
It's can occur in a garden
It's something you can run around
And it's probably made out of "wood"

I imagine something like so

here The word also seems to be of BrE origin

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  • It's a strange word, because it seems to be extremely rare outside of Kipling's writing, but your conclusion does seem to be the only reasonable one. In fact, here's The Kipling Journal defining "woodlump" as "a woodpile" - something they probably wouldn't bother to do if it were a common word.
    – stangdon
    Commented May 4, 2016 at 14:26
  • @stangdon I think Kipling means it to be a faerie word for a human thing.
    – ColleenV
    Commented May 4, 2016 at 17:53
  • Thank you very much for your detailed answer and photo!!
    – Hiroshi Inagaki
    Commented May 4, 2016 at 21:27
  • And Kipling Journal will be so available from now. I can try to read some stories.
    – Hiroshi Inagaki
    Commented May 4, 2016 at 21:31

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