copse

Etymology

1578, from coppice, by contraction, originally meaning “small wood grown for purposes of periodic cutting”.

noun

1. A coppice: an area of woodland managed by coppicing (periodic cutting near stump level).
2. Any thicket of small trees or shrubs, coppiced or not.
   Agrimonie groweth in places not tylled, in rough stone mountaynes, in hedges and Copses, and by waysides. 1578, Rembert Dodoens (author), Henry Lyte, transl., A niewe Herball or Historie of Plantes, page 57
   The day is come when I again repose Here, under this dark sycamore, and view These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard tufts, Which at this season, with their unripe fruits, Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves ’Mid groves and copses. 1798, William Wordsworth, Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey, lines 9–15 (for syntax)
   Striking the highway beyond the little copse she skirted the dark iron palings enclosing Hare. 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth (hardback edition), p19
3. Any woodland or woodlot.

verb

1. (transitive, horticulture) To trim or cut.
2. (transitive, horticulture) To plant and preserve.