wool

See also Wool

English

A sheep being sheared for its wool.

Etymology

Middle English wolle, from Old English wull, from Proto-Germanic *wullō (cf. Dutch wol, German Wolle, Norwegian ull), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂ (cf. Welsh gwlân, Latin lāna, Lithuanian vìlna, Russian волос (volоs), Bulgarian влас (vlas), Albanian lesh (“wool, hair, fleece”)).

Pronunciation

Noun

wool (usually uncountable; plural wools)

  1. The hair of the sheep, llama and some other ruminants.
    • 2006, Nigel Guy Wilson, Ancient Greece, page 692
      The sheep were caught and plucked, because shears had not yet been invented to cut the wool from the sheep's back.
  2. A cloth or yarn made from the wool of sheep.
    • 2009 January 12, Mireya Navarro, “It May Market Organic Alternatives, but Is Your Cleaner Really Greener?”:
      Spielvogel said wet cleaning also has limitations; while it is fine for cottons and fabrics worn in warm climates, he said, it can damage heavy wools or structured clothes like suit jackets.
  3. Anything with a texture like that of wool.
    • 1975, Anthony Julian Huxley, Plant and Planet, page 223
      The groundsels have leaves covered in wool for insulation […]

Coordinate terms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Derived terms

Translations

hair of sheep, etc.
cloth or yarn
anything with a texture like that of wool

Adjective

wool (no comparative or superlative)

  1. (Can we verify(+) this sense?) Made of wool.

Synonyms

Translations

made of wool — see woollen, woolen

See also

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Last modified on 19 May 2013, at 16:19