oven wood
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Small firewood. Of English origin, the phrase is there long obsolete, but it sur- vived in the U.S.A. into the 19th century.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “oven wood” mean?
Small firewood. Of English origin, the phrase is there long obsolete, but it sur- vived in the U.S.A. into the 19th century.
Is “oven wood” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.