wool
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /wʊl/
enpr: wo͝ol
ipa: /wʊl/
ipa: [wʊ̠ɫ]
ipa: [wəl]
ipa: /wʉl/
rhymes: -ʊl
Forms: form: wools
Etymology: From Middle English wolle, from Old English wull, from Proto-West Germanic *wullu, from Proto-Germanic *wullō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂.
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Wulle, German Low German Wull, Dutch wol, German Wolle, Norwegian ull; also Welsh gwlân, Latin lāna, Lithuanian vi̇̀lna, Russian во́лос (vólos), Slovak vlna, Bulgarian влас (vlas), Albanian lesh (“wool, hair, fleece”). Doublet of lana.
The vowel development u → o → oo is purely graphical. Modern English generally avoids the string ⟨wu⟩ in favour of ⟨wo⟩, and the resulting woll was then altered to wool (as supposedly better representing the pronunciation).
Senses: examples: text: The sheep were caught and plucked, because shears had not yet been invented to cut the wool from the sheep's back.
ref: 2006, Nigel Guy Wilson, Ancient Greece, page 692:
glosses: The hair of the sheep, llama and some other ruminants.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2009 January 12, Mireya Navarro, “It May Market Organic Alternatives, but Is Your Cleaner Really Greener?”, in New York Times:
glosses: A cloth or yarn made from such hair.
examples: text: The groundsels have leaves covered in wool for insulation[…
ref: 1975, Anthony Julian Huxley, Plant and Planet, page 223:
glosses: Anything with a fibrous texture like that of sheep's wool.
glosses: A fine fiber obtained from the leaves of certain trees, such as firs and pines.
examples: text: wool of bat and tongue of dog
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
glosses: Short, thick hair, especially when crisped or curled.
glosses: Yarn, including that made from synthetic fibers.
qualifier: Liverpool
glosses: A woolly back; a resident of a satellite town outside Liverpool, such as St Helens or Warrington. See also Yonner.
examples: text: The object of your affection is the treetop connection / Where basically you love to smoke your wools
ref: 1991 March 29, “Slow Down” (0:25 from the start), in One for All, performed by Brand Nubian:
text: He rocked Caesar's chains, he pushed Caesar's Range / Smokin' mad wools all day, with Caesar's change
ref: 2003 June 24, “Sabotage” (0:40 from the start), in The Ownerz, performed by Gang Starr:
text: Lopez said the shooter's name was Lou, known on the street as Wool Lou, because he sold "wools," which were cigarettes rolled up with crack cocaine.
ref: 2012, Chris Berdik, Mind Over Mind: The Surprising Power of Expectations, New York, N.Y.: Current, →ISBN, page 149:
synonyms: wooler
woolie
glosses: A marijuana cigarette or cigar laced with crack cocaine.
Hyponyms: sense: cloth or yarn
word: felt
sense: cloth or yarn
word: tweed
sense: cloth or yarn
word: worsted
Coordinate terms: sense: hair of sheep
word: goathair
sense: hair of sheep
word: horsehair
sense: hair of sheep
word: qiviut
Derived terms: abb-wool
all cry and no wool
all wool and a yard wide
andalusian wool
angora wool
breech wool
bullswool
burry wool
cony wool
cotton-wool
cotton wool
cotton wool ball
cotton wool bud
darning wool
dead pulled wool
dewool
dyed in the wool
dyed-in-the-wool
dye in the wool
feather wool
fleece wool
gather wool
glass wool
go to the goat's house for wool
great cry and little wool
ice wool
kaowool
lambswool
longwool
meat wool
mestizo wool
milk wool
mineral wool
more cry than wool
much cry and little wool
nonwool
philosophers' wool
philosopher's wool
philosophical wool
pig's wool
polywool
pull the wool over somebody's eyes
pull the wool over someone's eyes
rag wool
rockwool
rock wool
salamander's wool
scoured wool
seed wool
Shetland wool
shorn wool
shortwool
skin wool
slut's wool
steel-wool
steel wool
thibet wool
underwool
virgin wool
warm as wool
waste of wool
wire wool
wolf in wool
wood wool
wood-wool
Wool Bay
woolbroker
woolclasser
wool classer
wool classing
woolclassing
wool clip
woolcomb
wool comber
woolcomber
woolcombing
wooldriver
wool-dyed
wooled
wool-fat
wool fat
woolfell
wool-gather
woolgathering
wool-gathering
woolgrass
wool grease
woolgrower
woolgrowing
woolhall
woolhat
woolhead
wool-headed
wool-hole
woolhouse
woolish
woollen
woolen
woolless
woollike
woolly
wooly
woolman
woolmonger
wool moth
wool oil
woolpack
woolpacker
wool-pated
wool picker
woolsack
woolsedge
woolshearer
woolshearing
woolshed
woolskin
woolsorter
wool sorter
woolsorting
wool stapler
woolstuff
woolulose
woolward
woolwasher
wool wax
woolwear
woolwinder
woolwork
woolworker
woolworking
woolworks