come out of the woodwork
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
To appear or emerge suddenly and unexpectedly, often in large numbers
Xuất hiện hoặc nổi lên đột ngột và bất ngờ, thường với số lượng lớn
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Examples
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “come out of the woodwork” mean?
To appear or emerge suddenly and unexpectedly, often in large numbers Literally: creatures coming out of wooden hiding places
Is “come out of the woodwork” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.