vbl. sb. Obs. [f. WOOL sb. + -ING1.]
1. Combing wool; only in woolling comb.
1599. Acc. Bk. W. Wray, in Antiquary, XXXII. 243/2. One p’ of woullinge combes.
2. Coating or lining with wool.
1660. [see WOOL v. 1 a].
3. Carrying of wool, esp. illicitly (= OWLING).
1665. Sir J. Lauder, Jrnl. (1900), 3. The great number we meit of souldiers all the way begat in us great fears of wooling, yet it pleased God to bring us most safely to Paris.
1764. A. Anderson, Hist. & Chron. Deduction (1787), II. 480. The mischievous practice of wooling, as it is vulgarly termed, that is, the running of our English and Irish wool into France.
4. = WOOL-GATHERING 2.
1705. E. Ward, Hud. Rediv., I. i. 6. When these the Sons of Knipperdoling, Let all their Senses run a wooling.
