Forms: 1, 5–6 wul, wull, 3–6 woll, 4–5 wulle, wolle, 4–6 wole, woolle, 5–6 Sc. vol, (1 uul, 3, 6 wol, 5 who(o)ll, whowl, Sc. woyll, voyll, wo, 6 woull(e), 5–7 Sc. wow, 6–8 wooll, (8 owl, 8– dial. woo, oo’, oo), 6– wool. [Com. Teut. and Indo-Eur.: OE. wull, str. f. = OFris. wolle, ulle, (M)LG. wulle, MDu. wolle, wulle (Du. wol), OHG. wolla (MHG. wolle, wulle, G. wolle), ON. ull (Sw. ull, Da. uld), Goth. wulla:—OTeut. *wullō:—pre-Teut. *wḷná.
Cogante are Skr. úrṇā, Zend varənā-, OSlav. vlŭna, Lith. vìlna thread of wool, pl. vìlnos wool, OPruss. wilnis coat, Russ. vólna fleece, wool, Gr. λῆνος (Dor. λᾶνος) wool, οὔλος (:—*ϝολνος) woolly, curly, Lat. vellus (:—*welnos) fleece, lāna (:—*wlānā) wool, Ir. olann, Welsh gwlan. The ultimate etymology is doubtful.]
1. The fine soft curly hair forming the fleecy coat of the domesticated sheep (and similar animals), characterized by its property of felting (due to the imbricated surface of the filaments) and used chiefly in a prepared state for making cloth; freq., the material in a prepared state as a commodity.
Spanish or oriental wool, wool treated with a dye, used as a cosmetic.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), L 84. Lana, uul.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 356. Blacu rammes wul on wætere ʓedyfed.
c. 1100. Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 190/25. Unawæscen wull.
c. 1290. Kath., 246, in S. Eng. Leg., 99. Also man draweth with combes wolle.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 10033. Greye monckes þat newe come & pouere þo were, Ȝeue al hor wolle þerto of one ȝere.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 168. Þe mene folk … doand him seruise, Þat bies woule & wyne.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. XI. 18. Hit beo cardet with Couetise, as cloþers doþ heor wolle.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1721, Lucrece. Softe wolle … she wroughte To kepe hire from slouche & Idilnesse.
1436. Libel Eng. Policy, in Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 161. Oure Englysshe commodytees, Wolle and tynne.
1480. Cely Papers (Camden), 33. Howr father wyll schype the remenand of good whooll of thys sorte.
1506. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., III. 249. Item, for woll to the schulderis of it [sc. a gown], xvjd.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Kings iii. 4. Mesa ye kynge of the Moabites … payed tribute vnto the kynge of Israel with the woll of an hundreth thousande lambes.
1634. Milton, Comus, 751. To teize the huswifes wooll.
1678. Spanish wool [see SPANISH a. 7].
1712. J. Morton, Northampt., 451. Wool wrought together and compacted as closely, as Wool is by the Workman’s Hands, in the making a Hat.
1755. Connoisseur, No. 65, ¶ 2. I am ashamed to tell you that we are indebted to Spanish Wool for many of our masculine ruddy complexions.
1757. Dyer, Fleece, II. 72. In the same Fleece diversity of wool Grows intermingled.
1826. J. Rennie, New Suppl. Pharm., 292. Oriental Wool. This coloured wool comes from China in large round loose cakes…. The finest of these gives a most lovely and agreeable blush to the cheek.
1832. Tennyson, Œnone, 246. I hear Dead sounds at night … Like footsteps upon wool.
1871. W. Reid, Sheep, 82. The general good that would result from an increased supply of mutton and wool.
b. The fleece or complete woolly covering of a sheep, etc.; out of the wool, shorn.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 161. This whethur and þe wole were wonderly keppit By … Mars.
1550. in Phillipps, Wills (c. 1830), 180. Threescore Sheep, to be delivered unto him out of their wool.
1572. Satir. Poems Reform., xxxii. 42. To bring the woll, the skin, and hyde To Edinburgh Towne.
1847. Sarah, Lady Lyttelton, in Corr. (1912), 310. Lord S. … left town … ‘to see the sheep just out of the wool after shearing.’
c. The short soft under-hair or down forming part of the coat of certain hairy or furry animals.
1605. Shaks., Macb., IV. i. 15. Eye of Newt, and Toe of Frogge, Wooll of Bat, and Tongue of Dogge.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 274. The powder of the wooll of a Hare burned … fasteneth the haire from falling off.
1615. Markham, Country Contentm., I. 103. After your dogge hath courst,… first cleanse his mouth and chaps from the wool of the Hare.
1623. B. Jonson, Underwoods, Celebr. Charis, iv. 25. Ha’ you felt the wooll of Bever?
1757. Refl. Importation of Bar-Iron, 13. The American bought the Beaver Wool (the raw Material [of a hat]) at a much cheaper Rate.
1837. Youatt, Sheep, iil. 57. The camel has, at the base of its long hair, a quantity of wool.
1870. Yeats, Nat. Hist. Comm., 288.
† d. As the material of the thread spun and cut off by the Fates. Obs.
1608. B. Jonson, Hue & Cry after Cupid, Wks. (1616), 939. That was reseru’d, vntill the Parcæ spunne Their whitest wooll; and then, his thred begun.
1648. Herrick, Hesper., Epithal., 162. Let bounteous Fate your spindles full Fill, and winde up with whitest wool.
e. With qualifying word. See also fell-wool (FELL sb.1 4), goat’s-wool (GOAT 4 c), LAMB’S-WOOL, skin-wool (SKIN sb. 13), etc.
1495. Nottingham Rec., III. 42. Centum stones de flesse wolle et skyn wolle.
1498. Halyburton, Ledger (1867), 219. A pok of lam vol.
c. 1541. Tenours Indentures, 19. Cotiswold wolle of the growynge of this present yere.
1698–9. Act 11 Will. III., c. 20 § 1. Manufactures … made of Sheeps Wooll or Coney Wooll.
f. In comparisons, e.g., as soft, white as wool.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, cxlvii. 16. Se seleð snawe swe swe wulle.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 265. Hire her was hor and swiþe ȝwijȝt as þei it were wolle.
1382. Wyclif, Rev. i. 14. The heed of him and heeres weren white, as whijt wulle.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s T., 63. Softer than the wolle is of a wether.
c. 1480. Henryson, Two Mice, 359. Als warme as woll.
1533. Gau, Richt Vay (S.T.S.), 63. Giff ȝour sinnis be … reid as purpur neuthertheles yai sal be quhit as wow.
1742. R. Forbes, Ajax, etc. Shop Bill (1755), 38.
| Some worsted are o’ different hue, | |
| an’ some are cotton, | |
| That’s safter far na’ ony woo, | |
| that grows on mutton. |
1839. Longf., Wreck of Hesperus, xviii. She struck where the white and fleecy waves Looked soft as carded wool.
g. Phrases and proverbial sayings. (a) Against the wool: contrary to the direction in which wool naturally lies, the wrong way. (b) To draw (or pull) the wool over (a person’s) eyes: to make blind to facts, to hoodwink, to deceive. U.S. (c) To dye in the wool: to dye the wool before spinning; fig. in pass. to be thoroughly imbued; dyed in the wool (chiefly U.S.), thoroughgoing, out-and-out (cf. wool-dyed in 5 d). † (d) To gather wool: see WOOLGATHERING 2. (e) Great (much) cry and little wool (etc.): much talk or clamor with insignificant results (see CRY sb. 16). (f) Miscellaneous.
(a) 1531. Tindale, Expos. 1 John iv. Wks. (1573), 415/1. He wresteth all the Scriptures & setteth them clean agaynst the woll, to destroy this article.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov., I. xi. (1867), 30. What should your face thus agayne the woll be shorne For one fall?
1599. Breton, Wil of Wit (Grosart), 60/2. But begging is a vile life in the meane time. Patience. Then worke. Anger. That goes against the wooll.
a. 1693. Urquhart’s Rabelais, III. xxxvi. 298. Let us … brush our former Words against the Wool.
(b.) 1855. Frances M. Whitcher, Widow Bedott, xv. (1883), 55. He ain’t so big a fool as to have the wool drawd over his eyes in that way.
a. 1859. in Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 517. They think they find a prize, If they can only pull their wool o’er other people’s eyes.
1884. Howells, Silas Lapham, vii. I don’t propose he shall pull the wool over my eyes.
(c.) 1579–80, 1679. [see DYE v. 1 c].
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxii. § 18. Children as it were in the Wooll of their infancie died with hardnesse may neuer afterwards change colour.
1830. D. Webster, Sp., in Mass. Spy, 10 Feb. (Thornton). In half an hour [he can] come out an original democrat, dyed in the wool.
1840. J. P. Kennedy, Quodlibet, ii. 52. As patent a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat as Theodore Fog himself.
1871. W. Gibson, in College Courant, 21 Jan., 27/1 (Schele de Vere, Amer.). He had ‘the blues’ for many days after his arrival, because a drenching rain had washed the indigo from his new suit, ‘dyed in the wool’ at home, into his skin, coloring it ‘darkly, deeply, beautifully blue.’
1885. Hummel, Dyeing Textile Fabrics, 289. If in any dyed woollen fabric the colour has been imparted to it while it was yet in the state of unspun wool, it is said to be wool-dyed, or to have been dyed in the wool.
1900. R. Whiteing, in Century Mag., Feb., 503/2. Socialists dyed in the wool.
1903. G. W. Carryl, in Smart Set, IX. 23/2. The governor of Alleghenia is a dyed-in-the-wool scoundrel.
(d) 1577. T. Kendall, Flowers Epigr., Trifles, 15. The Papist praies with mouth, his minde on gathering woolle doeth goe.
1603. Breton, Packet Mad Lett., II. (1633), 83. For their wits, if they loose not their owne fleeces, let them gather Wool where they can.
(e) c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon., x. (1885), 132. His hyghnes shall haue þeroff, but as hadd þe man þat sherid is hogge, muche crye and litil woll.
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 28. Here is … as one said at the shearing of hogs, great cry and litle wool.
1644. Prynne, Falsities & Forgeries, 2. Here is a great cry indeed, but little wool.
1721. Kelly, Sc. Prov., 165. Humph, quoth the Dee’l when he clip’d the Sow, A great Cry, and little Woo.
a. 1734. North, Life Ld. Kpr. North (1742), 170. For Matter of Title he thought there was more Squeak than Wool.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, V. i. (Rtldg.), 201. At first, there was much cry but little wool.
1862. Hislop, Prov. Scot., 142. ‘Mair whistle than woo,’ quo’ the souter when he sheared the sow.
(f) 1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. X. 264. Thyne sheep ar ner al shabbyd, þe wolf shiteþ woolle.
1583. Howard, Defensatiue, A j b. Wooll driueth backe the Cannon shotte.
1620. Shelton, Don Quix., II. lxvii. 455. I would not haue her come for wooll, and returne shorne.
1680. C. Blount, trans. Philostratus, 243. It is ill Wooll that will take no Dye.
1825. Waterton, Wand. S. Amer., iii. 242. Sancho Panza … says,… many go for wool, and come home shorn.
1864. Browning, Mr. Sludge, 630. If such as came for wool, sir, went home shorn; Where is the wrong I did them?
2. Applied to substances resembling sheep’s wool. a. A downy substance or fiber found on certain trees and plants; also, the thick furry hair of some insects or larvæ. Cf. COTTON-WOOL 1.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xxvi. 268. In that Lond ben Trees, that beren Wolle, as thogh it were of Scheep; where of men maken Clothes, and alle thing that may ben made of Wolle.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 59 b. His Apple or fruite is all ouer apparailed with a certaine kinde of wooll called Cotton.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. lxxxi. 118. The other white Mulleyne … hath white leaues frysed with a soft wooll or Cotton.
1684. J. Peter, Siege Vienna, 108. Sacks of Wool made of Trees.
1731. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Xylon, Seeds … wrapped within that soft ductile Wool, commonly known by the Name of Cotton.
1827–8. R. Sweet, Flora Austral., 15. Leaves … thickly clothed with white wool.
1831. Don, Dichlamydeous Pl., I. 513. The wool contained in the fruit is called Samauma in Brazil, with which the natives stuff pillows and bolsters.
1840. Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 611. The Noctuælites.… The body is generally clothed with scales rather than with wool.
1885. Tennyson, Spinster’s Sweet-Arts, xii. The wool of a thistle a-flyin’.
1895. Oliver, trans. Kerner’s Nat. Hist. Plants, I. 354. Horse-chestnut leaves, when they make their way through the … bud-scales, are thickly covered with wool.
b. Any fine fibrous substance naturally or artificially produced. † Also (poet.) applied to ice.
Philosophic(al, Philosophers’ wool: see PHILOSOPHER 5 b.
[1596. T. Johnson, Cornucopiæ, C 3 b. A stone named Abeston…, which hath … a kinde of Wooll growing about it.]
1599. T. M[oufet], Silkwormes, 74. The smel … of silken wool that’s new.
1606. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. I. Tropheis, 751. As the rigour of long Cold congeals To harsh hard Wool the running Water-Rils.
1758. Reid, trans. Macquer’s Chym., I. 94. Into this form may the whole substance of the Zinc be converted. Several names have been given to these flowers, such as Pompholix, Philosophic Wool.
1850. C. J. Hempel, Homœopathic Pharm., 275. Flowers of Zinc, Philosophical Wool.
c. 1865. Philosophers’ wool [see PHILOSOPHER 5 b].
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Wool … a slag of iron blown by steam into a fibrous form. Known as slag-wool, or silicate cotton.
1884. C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Receipts, Ser. III. 439/2. Slag-wool…. The wool … is principally used for covering boilers or steam-pipes.
1885. [see GLASS sb.1 16].
c. The short crisp curly hair of a negro. Also gen. (jocularly), the hair of the head.
1697. Lond. Gaz., No. 3256/4. Run away…, a Negro Boy … the Wooll off the right side of his Head about the breadth of a Crown Piece.
1730. Southall, Buggs, 6. Meeting with an uncommon Negro, the Hair or (rather) Wooll on his Head, Beard, and Breast being as white as Snow.
1767. Carteret, in Hawkesw., Voy. (1773), I. 599. The people are … woolly-headed, like Negroes … the hair, or rather the wool upon their heads, was very abundantly powdered.
a. 1853. in ‘C. Bede,’ Verdant Green, I. ix. He’d got no wool on the top of his head,—just the place where the wool ought to grow, you know.
1884. Sir S. St. John, Hayti, iv. 146. The principal trouble to the female negro mind is her unfortunate wool.
slang phr. 1830. R. Lower, Tom Cladpole’s Jurn., cxxxvi. Dat rais’d ma wool.
1890. Barrère & Leland, Dict. Slang, s.v., ‘Keep your wool on,’ don’t get angry.
3. Woollen clothing or material; Sc. phr. amang the woo’, in the blankets.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11112. He … Ne wered noþer wol ne line.
1534. More, Treat. Passion, Wks. 1272/2. How proude is many a man ouer his neighbour, because the wull of hys gowne is fyner?
a. 1625. Fletcher, Noble Gentl., I. i. A Countrey Fool, good to … eate course bread, weare the worst Wooll.
1818. J. Kennedy, Poet. Wks., 44 (E.D.D.). They … den amang the woo, Fu’ quiet that night.
1882. Edith A. Barnett, Common-sense Clothing, 28. Wear wool in hot weather; do as you please in cold.
b. The nap of a woollen fabric.
1563. Fulke, Meteors (1571), 14. Garmentes, whose woll is hyghe, as fryese mantels, and suche lyke.
1577. Harrison, England, II. i. (1877), I. 34. Such patrons doo scrape the wooll from our [the parsons’] clokes.
1836. H. Manwaring, Tailors’ New Guide, 16. First open the cloth with the wool to go with the back seam.
1892. N. Gale, Country Muse, 32. How his Pilot Jacket shows Ghosts of snowballs on the wool!
c. Twisted woollen yarn used for knitting and mending garments.
1840. Mrs. Gaugain, Lady’s Assist. Knitting, I. 22. The Cap requires eight penny skeins of coloured Berlin wool, and six of white. Ibid., 27. Work … with white,… never breaking off the wools till the whole is finished.
1849. Esther Copley, Compr. Knitting-bk., 4. Embroidery Wool is about the size of the thinnest Lady Betty. Ibid. Shetland Wool … is in use for shawls, handkerchiefs, and scarfs.
1885. Bazaar, 30 March, 332. Stocking … knitted with German fingering wool.
4. A quantity or supply, or a particular kind or class, of wool. Chiefly in pl.
1399. Langl., Rich. Redeles, IV. 11. Whane þe countis were caste with þe custum of wullus.
c. 1400. Contin. Brut, ccxxv. (1908), 293. Þe King askeþ þe vif part of alle þe meble goodez of Engelond, and þe wolles.
14[?]. Chaucer’s Pard. T., 582 (Corp. MS.). Comeþ vp, ȝe wyues, offreþ ȝoure wulles.
c. 1470[?]. in Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 283. The marchauntes comme oure wollys for to bye.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 118 b. They followe … but one kynde of marchaundyse as Woulles or Sylkes.
1586. A. Day, Engl. Secretorie, II. (1625), 61. Wools are as yet at high rate, but I thinke shortly they will fall.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, IV. xxxiii. 299. If they could make profite of their woolls by sending them into Europe.
1706. Lond. Gaz., No. 4288/3. The Wools to be seen at Leathersellers Hall.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 124. Wools have been distinguished in commerce into two classes; fleece wools and dead wools.
1859. E. B. Ramsay, Remin. Scott. Life & Char. (ed. 5), 67. Cus. A’ ae oo? Shop. Ay, a’ ae oo [= Aye, all one wool].
5. attrib. and Comb.: a. simple attrib., as wool-bale, -blanket, -bob (BOB sb.1 6), -clip, -coat, -crop, -hat, -import, -lock, -mattress, -produce, -production, -sheet, -side, -tax, -top (TOP sb.1 2); = relating to or concerned with the manufacture, storage, transport, or commercial handling of wool or woollen goods, as wool-bill, -boat, † chamber, -dray, duty, -fair, -hall, -loft, -market, quay, -room, -sale, † -ship, -store, † -tool, trade, -wain, warehouse, weight, -wharf. b. objective, etc. esp. in terms denoting operatives or machines concerned with the manufacture of wool or woollen goods, as wool-breaker (BREAK v. 2 c), † -brogger, -broker, -burler, -buyer, † -chapman, -cleaner, -cutter, -dealer, -dresser, -drier, -duster, -dyer, -factor, -farmer, -gleaner, -grower, -holder, -jobber, -maker, -merchant, -monger, -moter, -oiler, -picker, -printer, -puller, -roller, -scourer, -scribbler (SCRIBBLER2), -scutcher, -seller, -slubber, -washer, -wearer, -weaver, † -webster, -weigher; wool-bearing, -broking, -bundling, -burring, -classing, -cleaning, -growing, -picking, -printing, -producing, -pulling, -rearing, -scouring, -washing sbs. and adjs. c. instrumental, similative, and parasynthetic, as wool-backed, -fringed, -laden, -lined, -o’erburdened, -white, -woofed adjs.; also wool-like adj.
1907. Westm. Gaz., 26 Oct., 13/2. Soft *wool-backed satin.
1852. Mundy, Antipodes (1857), 31. Long caravans of drays … laden with *wool-bales, hides, &c.
1792. A. Young, Trav. France, I. 74. Our woollen manufacturers … when suing for their *wool bill, of infamous memory, bringing one Thomas Wilkinson from Dunkirk quay … to swear that wool passes from Dunkirk without entry, duty, or any thing being required.
1519. Registr. Aberdon. (Maitl. Club), II. 174. Ane payr of dowbill *woll blankatis.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 570. It is not that wool-blanket, smothering affair that we were wrapped in down by Buana.
1898. Dublin Rev., July, 171. The journey was continued in a flat-bottomed *wool-boat.
1891. Ménie Muriel Dowie, Girl in Karp., 101. The lads of the village had … coloured *wool-bobs … in their black felt hats.
a. 1691. Aubrey, Nat. Hist. Wilts (1847), 110. Mr. Ludlowe … and his predecessours have been *wooll-breakers 80 or 90 yeares.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 427. Wool-breakers … separate the fleeces by themselves that run most of a sort.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 219. Gill-machines of the ordinary construction as represented in the wool-breaker.
1724. [Blanch], Beaux Merchant, III. 42. The *Wooll-brogger buys his Wooll in the Summer, and sells out the greatest part in the Winter.
1852. T. Baines, Hist. Liverpool, 756, note. Mr. Thomas Southey, *wool-broker, London.
1871. W. Reid, Sheep, Contents p. vii. *Woolbroking advantageous to the Grower.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Wool-bundling Machine.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Wool-burlers, women who remove the little knots or extraneous matters from wool, and from the surface of woollen cloth.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Wool-burring Machine, a machine for picking the burs from wool.
1641. D. Fergusson’s Scot. Prov. (S.T.S.), 8. A woole seller kens a *woole buyer.
1775. W. Donaldson, Agric., 110. The rich grazier, who can … compel the wool-buyers to his own terms.
1876. J. S. Blackie, Lett. (1909), 245. We took dinner … with the big sheep lairds, the wool-buyers and wool-brokers.
1603. in Gage, Hengrave (1822), 22. Ye graneries; ye *woole chamber.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, III. 157. The feete and the skin they sell vnto the *wool-chapmen.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, xi. A natural aptitude for *wool-classing.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Wool-cleaner, a machine for cleaning dust, burs, and other foreign matters from wool. Ibid., Fig. 7545 *Wool-cleaning machine.
1893. Times, 18 July, 2/6. The *wool-clip of the year throughout Australia.
1904. McCabe, Haeckel’s Evol. Man, I. 107. The embryonic *wool-coat usually, in the case of the human embryo, covers the whole body.
1884. Helen Jackson, Ramona, i. You could reckon up the *wool-crop to a pound while it was on the sheep’s back.
1723. Lond. Gaz., No. 6192/9. Mary Louff.., Coney *Wooll-Cutter.
1819. Rees, Cycl., s.v. Wool, The English *wool-dealers.
1845. D. Mackenzie, Emigr. Guide Australia, 91. Of these bales,… one of our ordinary *wool-drays, drawn by eight bullocks, will carry to Sydney from 15 to 20.
1727. Arbuthnot, Tables Anc. Coins, etc., 300. Struthium … is a Root us’d by the *Wool-dressers.
1867. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Suppl., *Wool-drier, a workman who dries wool after washing.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Wool-dryer, a machine for removing the moisture from wool after washing, dyeing, or what not. Ibid., *Wool-duster, a machine for mechanically removing the coarser impurities from wool.
1673–4. Earl Essex, Papers (Camden), I. 172. I cannot learn that any more then 1500ld, or at most 2000ld a year, was ever made for *wooll dutys to ye chief Governr.
1858. E. Baines, in T. Baines, Yorks. (1875), I. 648. *Wool dyers.
1801. T. Peck, Norwich Direct., 10. Coulsen Ralph, *Wool-Factor.
1806. Monthly Mag., XXI. June, 481/1. At a recent meeting of gentlemen and wool growers of Glamorganshire, resolutions were adopted for establishing a *wool-fair in that county.
1742. Jarvis, 2nd Pt. Quix., III. xvii. II. 258. Pedro Perez the *wool-farmer.
1834. M. Scott, Cruise Midge, xviii. The heavy clouds … had … settled down in a black, *wool-fringed bank.
1899. H. Johnston, Chron. Glenbuckie, xxii. 255. Her profession was that of a *wool-gleaner.
1806. *wool growers [see wool-fair].
1847–54. Webster, *Wool-growing, a., producing sheep and wool.
1868. Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869), 42. *Wool-growing would be profitable if it were not for ravenous dogs.
1751. Engl. Gazetteer, I. s.v. Buckingham, This Town was many years a wool-staple, and many of its *wool-halls are yet standing.
1856. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 8), XI. 240/2. *Wool hats are made entirely of coarse native wool and hair stiffened with glue. Before the emancipation act these hats were largely exported for negroes’ wear.
1842. Bischoff, Woollen Manuf., II. 57. Another meeting of foreign *wool holders.
1919. Glasgow Herald, 27 June, 7. A congestion of *wool imports at the docks.
1775. Ash, *Wool-jobber, one who buys up small parcels of wool and sells them again.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, xii. The teams *wool-laden departed.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), II. 159. The straight hairs on the leaves disappear by cultivation, but the *wool-like hairs continue on the stem.
1880. C. R. Markham, Peruv. Bark, 251. Dense bodies of white wool-like exhalations fill the deeper valleys.
1891. C. Roberts, Adrift Amer., 43. He then told me to put on my *wool-lined rubber boots.
1382. Wyclif, Wisd. v. 15. The hope of the vnpitous is as a *wlle loke, or thistil-doun.
c. 1422. Hoccleve, Lerne to Dye, 219. Myn hope is as it were a wolle-loke Which the wynd vp reisith for his lightnesse.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 534/2. Wullok, villus.
1497. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 245. xix newe cabulles owte of the *Wollofte at Southampton.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 887. The wool-loft bears evidence that sheep form a part of the live stock.
1483. Cath. Angl., 423/1. A *Wolle maker, lanifex.
1886. C. Scott, Sheep-Farming, 192. In Japan … it will take a long time to cause such a demand for woollen goods as appreciably to affect the *wool-markets.
1899. Daily News, 11 Sept., 2/6. A mattress invoiced as a *‘wool mattress.’
1836. Pigot & Co’s Lond. Commerc. Direct., II. 315. *Wool merchants and warehouses.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 11173. [They] þe porters bede To late in tueie *wolmongers, hor chaffare in to lede.
a. 1400. Old Usages Winch., in Engl. Gilds (1870), 353. No wollemongere … ne may habbe no stal in þe heye-stret.
1697. View of Penal Laws, 257. Wool and Woolmongers.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVII. 551/2. Impurities … are afterwards picked out by boys or women, called *‘wool-moaters,’ or ‘wool-pickers.’
1654. Blount, Acad. Eloq., 47. The *Wool-ore-burthened sheep.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Wool-oiler … a device for attachment to the first breaker over the feed-apron, and immediately in front of the feed-rolls of the carding-machine.
1536. Act 28 Hen. VIII., c. 4 § 1. Weauers, tuckers, spinners, diers, and *wulpikers … haue ben … without worke.
1843. [see wool-moter].
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Wool-picker, a machine for burring wool.
1817. M. Birkbeck, Notes Journ. Amer. (1818), 56. The wife was at a neighbour’s on a *‘wool-picking, frolic,’ which is a merry-meeting of gossips … to pick the year’s wool and prepare it for carding.
1867. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Suppl., *Wool-printer.
1852. Earp, Gold Col. Austr., 3. The *wool produce of Australia.
1886. C. Scott, Sheep-Farming, 186. An inspection of these animals [Merino sheep] will show at the first glance how distinctively a *wool-producing breed they are.
1903. Flemming, Pract. Tanning, 1. The first operation to which sheepskins are subjected by the tanner or *wool-puller is soaking.
1885. H. M. Newhall in Harper’s Mag., Jan., 278/2. A high duty on wool makes it cheaper to have the *‘wool-pulling’ done in England, and let the skins come to us as our raw material.
1376. Rolls of Parlt., II. 351/1. Charges sur les Laynes … al *Wolkey en la Port de Londres.
1476. Stonor Papers (Camden), II. 5. The ij pokets woll, beynge at the Wollkey.
1721. Act 8 Geo. I., c. 31. All that Piece or Parcel of Ground … called or known by the Name of Wooll Key, situate … in the Parish of All Saints Barking in the City of London.
1901. Westm. Gaz., 19 Feb., 10/1. A large *wool-rearing district.
1890. Melbourne Argus, 20 Sept., 13/7. The fleece he carries to the ‘skirting table,’ where the *‘wool roller’ stands.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 779. The granary and the *wool-room are both seven feet high.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Wool-sale, a periodical public sale, in London or Liverpool, for the disposal of large quantities of wool.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, xii. The reputation of the Garrandilla clip in the forthcoming wool sales.
1858. E. Baines, in T. Baines, Yorks. (1875), I. 652. *Wool Scourers, Driers, &c.
1860. S Jubb, Shoddy-trade, 60. *Wool Scouring—This has become general, as regards fine foreign and colonial wools.
c. 1830. in Southey, Comm.-Pl. Bk. (1851), IV. 491. Mr. Taylor, *wool-scribbler,… City Road.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Wool-scribblers, machines for combing … wool into thin downy translucent layers.
1884. Spectator, 26 April, 548/2. An ideal *wool-scutcher, with more tearing-power than any other combination of iron teeth.
1641. *woole seller [see wool-buyer].
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Wool-sheet, a packing-wrapper for bales of wool.
1481. Cely Papers (Camden), 80. I undyrstond be yowr letter that aull the *whowlschypys ar cwm to Calles.
1903. Flemming, Pract. Tanning, 64–5. By which all fleshy particles are removed from the inner or flesh side and the loose dirt removed from the *wool side [of the pelt].
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., The *wool slubber, after a visit to the beer-shop, resumes his task with violence.
1828–43. Tytler, Hist. Scot. (1864), I. 241. The *wool-tax fell heavily upon the inhabitants.
1842. Bischoff, Woollen Manuf., II. 2. Deputies from the manufacturing districts, anxious for the repeal of the wool tax.
1578. Richmond Wills (Surtees), 282. Studills, wheles, card and all *wooll toiles.
14[?]. in Wr.-Wülcker, 588/31. Icarpa, a *wolletoppe.
1775. Ash, *Wooltrade, the trade of buying and selling wool.
1906. Kipling, Puck of Pook’s Hill, viii. 242. They go over to Rye o’ Thursday in the *wool-wains.
1808. W. Wilson, Hist. Diss. Ch., I. 397. The meeting-house in Gravel-lane, was afterwards occupied as a *wool-warehouse.
1884. W. S. B. McLaren, Spinning (ed. 2), 51. No *wool-washer ought to allow his suds to run away in the form they leave the bowls.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl. 955/2. ‘Smith’s’ wool washer.
1884. W. S. B. McLaren, Spinning (ed. 2), 38. So much has been heard … of the superior *wool-washing in Verviers.
1553. W. Turner, in Strype, Eccl. Mem. (1721), III. iv. 49. Whereas there sitteth but seven or eight linnen-wearing bishops … in the convocation-house, if there be threescore pastors and elders, they are *woolwearers.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 506/2. Lanarius,… a *wooll weauer.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. Prol. 219. *Wollewebsteres and weueres of lynnen.
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal, vi. (1673), 123. (Illustr.) The word … is by the Scholiast expounded so, by Lani-pendia (a *wool-weigher).
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Wool weight. The following are the subdivisions used in weighing wool.
1326. Cal. Wills Crt. Husting, Lond., I. (1889), 319. Le *Wollewharf. Ibid. (1423), II. (1890), 433.
1818. Shelley, Rosal. & Helen, 1092. The hissing frankincense, Whose smoke, *wool-white as ocean foam, Hung in dense flocks beneath the dome.
1848. Tennyson, in Mem. (1897), I. 281. Thick wool-white fog.
1822. Keats, Lamia, II. 179. A sacred tripod … Whose slender feet wide-swerv’d upon the soft *Wool-woofed carpets.
d. Special comb.: wool-ball (see quot.); † wool-battery, a battery faced with wool-packs built up as a breast-work; wool-bird slang, a lamb; † wool-bow (see quot. and BOW sb.1 13); † wool-butter, butter used to salve the wool of sheep; † wool-craft, wool manufacture; wool-driver, one who buys wool from a sheep-owner to sell it in the market or to manufacturers; wool-dyed a., dyed ‘in the wool’ (see 1 g (c)); wool-fat (a) = SUINT; (b) = LANOLIN; wool-flock, coarse, inferior wool; † wool-folder = WOOL-WINDER; † wool-gatherer, one who collects wool from the flockmasters; † wool-graither, one who prepares wool for the manufacturer; wool-grass, name for various grasses or grass-like plants having woolly spikelets, as the American Scirpus cyperinus (S. eriophorum) and the European Erianthus ravennæ; wool-grease = SUINT; wool-hole Printing, also Printers’ slang (see quot.); † wool-hurdle, a sheep-fold; wool-mark = SHEEP-MARK; † wool-master, an owner of wool-producing sheep; a wool-producer; wool-mill = WILLY sb.1 3; wool-moth, the clothes-moth, Tinea sarcitella; wool-needle, a blunt needle used for wool-work; wool-nipping, a portion of wool nipped off a sheep in branding; wool-oil, † (a) oil used to salve the wool of sheep; (b) = LANOLIN; wool-owner, a sheep-owner; wool-pated a., woolly-headed; wool-plant, ? = MULLEIN; wool-press, a press used in packing wool; wool-scour Austral., a large shed where wool is washed; wool-screw, a wool-press; wool-shear, now only pl. -shears, shears used for shearing sheep; also † wool-shearers; wool-shed Austral., the large building at a sheep-station in which the shearing and wool-packing are done; wool-sorter, a sorter of wool; wool-sorters’ disease, anthrax, also known as splenic fever; so wool-sorting; wool-spinner, (a) a workman who spins wool; (b) a species of mussel (see quot. 1815); so wool-spinning; wool-sponge U.S., a variety of bath-sponge; wool-stock, a heavy wooden hammer used in fulling cloth; wool-thistle = woolly-headed thistle (see WOOLLY-HEADED a); wool-tree, any species of Eriodendron; wool-weed, any species of Eriocaulon (pipewort); † wool-weigh sb. [WEIGH sb.1 2], scales for weighing wool; † wool-weigh a., that weighs out wool for spinning; wool-wheel, a wheel for spinning wool; wool-witted a., woolly-minded; wool-yarn, yarn spun from wool; spec. (see quot. 1863).
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., *Wool-balls,… masses of Wool compacted into firm and hard balls, and found in the stomachs of sheep.
1852. Col. Hawker, Diary (1893), II. 341. A large model of my wheel-barrow stanchion gun artillery, with *wool battery, for raking a close column of infantry.
1825. C. M. Westmacott, Engl. Spy, I. 156. The wing of a *wool bird [= shoulder of lamb].
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 291/1. *Wool-Bow,… an Instrument by which Wool is rent and torn and beaten very fine,… before it can be worked into Hats.
1600. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 352/2. Reddendo … barrellam butiri lie *wollbutter.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 297. Pallas … fonde vp meny craftes, and specialliche *wolcraft [L. lanificium]. Ibid. (1398), Barth. De P. R., XV. xliv. (1495), G iij. This londe [sc. Cos] was fyrste endowed wyth wolle crafte.
1555. Act 2 & 3 Phil. & Mary, c. 13. Yf … the said *Wooll-dryver shall sell his sayd Woolles at any other place forthe … of Halyfaxe.
1775. W. Donaldson, Agric., 111. The wool-drivers, or owlers, are the only persons who profit by their necessities.
1844. G. Dodd, Textile Manuf., iii. 97. The distinction between *‘wool-dyed’ cloth and ‘piece-dyed’ cloth.
1891. Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry, X. 709/1. An Improved Manufacture of Saponifiable Fatty Matter from *Wool-Fat.
1555. Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889), 451. A newe charter … by the whiche they have the forfaictures of *woll flocks.
1662. Act 14 Charles II., c. 18 § 1. Whereas … great quantities of Wooll Woolfels … Yarn made of Wool Woolflocks … are secretly exported.
1904. Daily Chron., 27 Aug., 7/2. We would not object if Parliament forbade the sale of wool-flock as bedding material.
1550. Proclam. Winding of Wools, 23 May, 2. No grower … or gatherer of any wolles … shall … set a worke any *wollefolder, or wollewynder to folde or wynde his … wolle or wolles, vnlesse [etc.].
1482. Cely Papers (Camden), 102. Aull *wholl getherars wher sent for be wryt.
1551–2. Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI., c. 7 § 1. The corrupt practises of diverse … Woolgatherers and Regrators.
c. 1420. Pref. Ep. Jerome, vi. in Wycliffite Bible (1850), I. 67. *Wulle graithers and fullers.
1854. Thoreau, Walden, xvii. (1863), 331. The arching and sheaf-like top of the *wool-grass.
1856. A. Gray, Man. Bot. U.S. (1860), 501. Scirpus Eriophorum, Michx. (Wool-Grass.)
1891. Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry, X. 709/1. The inventor substitutes sulphurous acid for the mineral acids generally used in the recovery of *wool grease from the waste water from wool washing and combing factories.
1841. Savage, Dict. Printing, 814. *Wool hole, a place boxed off sometimes under a stair case, or in any situation where the dust will not affect the press room,… in which the wool is carded wherewith to make the balls. Ibid., Wool hole, the workhouse. When a compositor or pressman is reduced by age or illness to take refuge in the workhouse, it is said he is in the Wool Hole.
1586. [? J. Case], Praise Mus., vi. 76. When he hears his maids either at ye *woolhurdle, or the milking pail.
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 93. It is in your power to follow your strayed stock, and claim it anywhere by the *wool-mark.
1550–3. Decay Eng., in Supplic. (E.E.T.S., 1871), 101. Refusyng none, but only them that hath al this aboundance, that is to saye, shepe or *wollmasters, and inclosers.
a. 1691. Aubrey, Nat. Hist. Wilts (1847), 110. Our cloathiers combine against the wooll-masters, and keep their spinners but just alive.
1905. New Mills Cloth Manufactory, Introd. p. lxxx. The woolmasters secured a small advantage.
1819. Rees, Cycl., XXXVIII. 4 O 3 b. The wool for coarse goods is passed several times through the *woolmill.
1830. Boucher, Analyt. Dict., 176. The Woolmill, (commonly called the Devil).
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, III. 887. The *wool-moth then takes up its residence, in summer, amongst such fleeces.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 522. *Wool Needles … are short and thick, with blunt points, and long eyes, like those of darning needles.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 83. Course *Wool-nippings and Tarry Pitch-marks … having great virtue in them.
1760. R. Brown, Compl. Farmer, II. 68. Wool-nippings … are beneficial for lands.
1545. Rates of Custome Ho., d j. *Woll oyle called trane the tonne.
a. 1585. in Engl. Hist. Rev. (1914), XXIX. 519. All our wolle oyles and swete oyles.
1894. H. Nisbet, Bush Girl’s Rom., 225. Wildrake came down with Mr. Craven and the other *wool owners.
1703. Dampier, Voy., III. I. 27. The Inhabitants of this Island … are all Negro’s, *Wool-pated like their African neighbours.
1883. Browning, Jochanan Hakkadosh, 18. Hairs silk-soft, silver-white, Such as the *wool-plant’s.
1859. H. Kingsley, G. Hamlyn, xxxiv. I dreamed … that the devil had got me under the *wool-press, screwing me down as hard as he could.
1911. Bean, ‘Dreadnought’ of the Darling, xi. 101. The wool is classed; and sometimes ig goes on to be washed by machinery in a second big shed, the *wool-scour, so as to get the grease and dirt out of it and reduce its weight by a half.
1828. P. Cunningham, N. S. Wales (ed. 3), II. 82. Wooden *wool-screw.
1643. Orkney Witch Trial, in Abbotsford Club Misc., I. 184. I took ane seif and … set ane cogge full of water in the seive, and then laid ane *woll scheir on the coggis mouth.
1831. Loudon, Encycl. Agric. (ed. 2), 373. The wool-shears are … worked with one hand.
1809. Med. Jrnl., XXI. 414. A Lad, about 12 years go, was wounded in the abdomen by a pair of *wool-shearers.
1850. Clutterbuck, Port Phillip, II. 23. In some instances the flood has swept away the *wool-sheds.
1859. H. Kingsley, G. Hamlyn, xxiii. Backed by huts, sheep-yards, a wool-shed, and the usual concomitants of a flourishing Australian sheep station.
1834. Tait’s Mag., I. 411/2. Merchants in Sydney, some of whom employ *wool-sorters of their own to assort and repack it for the London market.
1844. G. Dodd, Textile Manuf., iii. 97. If the wool-sorter be out of practice for any considerable time, his fingers lose the delicacy of touch indispensable to his occupation.
1880. Daily Tel., 10 Dec., 3/8. Henry Slater has died here [Leicester] from ‘woolsorter’s disease’ through inhaling poisonous germs whilst sorting Persian wool.
1858. E. Baines, in T. Baines, Yorks. (1875), I. 653. The *wool sorting done by the proprietors themselves.
1815. S. Brookes, Conchol., 157. *Woolspinner, Mytilus discors.
1848. Blackw. Mag., LXIV. Aug., 208/2. In proportion, however, to his taciturnity was the loquaciousness of a woolspinner.
1821. Galt, Ann. Parish, xii. (1895), 85. Superintending … a great *wool-spinning we then had.
1879. Simmonds, Commerc. Products Sea, 159. The [American] grades are glove sponge … *wool sponge … and yellow and hard head. Ibid. (1858), Dict. Trade, *Wool-stocks, heavy wooden hammers for milling cloth; or driving the threads of the web together.
1769. J. Hill, Herb. Brit., *Wool-thistle.
1831. Don, Dichlamydeous Pl., I. 512. Eriodendron leiantherum … Smooth-anthered *Wool-tree.
1772. J. Hill, Veg. Syst., X. 26. *Woollweed. Eriocaulon.
c. 1100. Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 148/21. Campana, *wulwæʓa.
1533. Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1844), I. 451. Ane pair of woll weyiss, ane pair of ballendis of brass, [etc.].
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal, vi. (1673), 100. Illustr. 123. Wo to the *Wool-weigh-maide.
1630. in Ramsay, Bamff Charters (1915), 223. Ane *woll qwheill.
a. 1806. Jas. Thomson, Poems (1894), 233. A gude woo’ wheel, my wife to spin on.
1865. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s Lovers, iv. A woman stands at the great wool-wheel, one arm extended, the other holding the thread.
1905. A. T. Sheppard, Red Cravat, I. i. 12. A belated Mastodon, stumbling from some old German forest … would have caused little more sensation among the *wool-witted villagers.
1429. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 360/2. Grete quantite of fyne *Wolle yerne.
1556. Richmond Wills (Surtees), 88. To Jenet my doghter, all my wolle and wolle yarne.
1863. J. Watson, Weaving, 39. Wool yarn is spun from the short fibres of the fleece that is taken from the animal, and Worsted yarn from the long staple.
