| E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898. |
| | | Rooky Wood (The). | | |
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Not the wood where rooks do congregate, but the misty or dark wood. The verb reek (to emit vapour) had the preterite roke, rook, or roak; hence Hamilton, in his Wallace, speaks of the “rooky mist.” | 1 |
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| “Light thickens, and the crow |
| Makes wing to the roaky wood.” | |
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Shakespeare: Macbeth, iii. 2. |
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