| 释义 |
▪ I. wool, n.|wʊl|
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. *wḷnā́.
Cognate are Skr. ū́rnā, Zend varənā-, OSlav. vlŭna, Lith. vìlna thread of wool, pl. vìlnos wool, OPruss. wilnis coat, Russ. vólna fleece, wool, Gr. λῆνος (Dor. λᾶνος) wool, οὖλος (:—*ϝολνος) woolly, curly, Lat. vellus (:—*welnos) fleece, lāna (:—*wlānā) wool, Ir. olann, Welsh gwlan. The ultimate etymology is doubtful.]
1. a. 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 wool or oriental wool, wool treated with a dye, used as a cosmetic.
c725Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) L 84 Lana, uul. c1000Sax. Leechd. I. 356 Blacu rammes wul on wætere ᵹedyfed. c1100Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 190/25 Unawæscen wull. c1290Kath. 246 in S. Eng. Leg. 99 Also man draweth with combes wolle. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 10033 Greye monekes þat newe come & pouere þo were, Ȝeue al hor wolle þerto of one ȝere. 1338R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 168 Þe mene folk..doand him seruise, Þat bies woule & wyne. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 18 Hit beo cardet with Couetise, as cloþers doþ heor wolle. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1721 Lucrece, Softe wolle..she wroughte To kepe hire from slouthe & Idilnesse. 1436Libel Eng. Policy in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 161 Oure Englysshe commodytees, Wolle and tynne. 1480Cely Papers (Camden) 33 Howr father wyll schype the remanand of good whooll of thys sorte. 1506Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. III. 249 Item, for woll to the schulderis of it [sc. a gown], xvjd. 1535Coverdale 2 Kings iii. 4 Mesa y⊇ kynge of the Moabites..payed tribute vnto the kynge of Israel with the woll of an hundreth thousande lambes. 1634Milton Comus 751 To teize the huswifes wooll. 1678Spanish wool [see Spanish a. 7]. 1712J. Morton Northampt. 451 Wool wrought together and compacted as closely, as Wool is by the Workman's Hands, in the making a Hat. 1755Connoisseur No. 65 ⁋2, I am ashamed to tell you that we are indebted to Spanish Wool for many of our masculine ruddy complexions. 1757Dyer Fleece ii. 72 In the same Fleece diversity of wool Grows intermingled. 1826J. 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. 1832Tennyson Œnone 246, I hear Dead sounds at night..Like footsteps upon wool. 1871W. Reid Sheep 82 An increased supply of mutton and wool.
b. The fleece or complete woolly covering of a sheep, etc.; out of the wool, shorn.
c1400Destr. Troy 161 This whethur and þe wole were wonderly keppit By..Mars. 1550in Phillipps Wills (c 1830) 180 Threescore Sheep, to be delivered unto him out of their wool. 1572Satir. Poems Reform. xxxii. 42 To bring the woll, the skin, and hyde To Edinburgh Towne. 1841Lady S. 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.
1605Shakes. Macb. iv. i. 15 Eye of Newt, and Toe of Frogge, Wooll of Bat, and Tongue of Dogge. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 274 The powder of the wooll of a Hare burned..fasteneth the haire from falling off. 1615Markham Country Contentm. i. 103 After your dogge hath courst,..first cleanse his mouth and chaps from the wool of the Hare. 1623B. Jonson Underwoods, Celebr. Charis iv. 25 Ha' you felt the wooll of Bever? 1757Refl. Importation of Bar-Iron 13 The American bought the Beaver Wool (the raw Material [of a hat]) at a much cheaper Rate. 1837Youatt Sheep iii. 57 The camel has, at the base of its long hair, a quantity of wool. 1870Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 288.
†d. As the material of the thread spun and cut off by the Fates. Obs.
1608B. Jonson Hue & Cry after Cupid Wks. (1616) 939 That was reseru'd, vntill the Parcæ spunne Their whitest wooll; and then, his thred begun. 1648Herrick 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 n.1 4), goat's-wool (goat 4 c), lamb's-wool, skin-wool (skin n. 16), etc.
1495Nottingham Rec. III. 42 Centum stones de flesse wolle et skyn wolle. 1498Halyburton Ledger (1867) 219 A pok of lam vol. c1541Tenours Indentures 19 Cotiswold wolle of the growynge of this present yere. 1698–9Act 11 Will. III, c. 20 §1 Manufactures..made of Sheeps Wooll or Coney Wooll.
f. In comparisons, e.g. as soft, white as wool.
c825Vesp. Psalter cxlvii. 16 Se seleð snawe swe swe wulle. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 265 Hire her was hor and swiþe ȝwijȝt as þei it were wolle. 1382Wyclif Rev. i. 14 The heed of him and heeres weren white, as whijt wulle. c1386Chaucer Miller's T. 63 Softer than the wolle is of a wether. c1480Henryson Two Mice 359 Als warme as woll. 1533Gau Richt Vay (S.T.S.) 63 Giff ȝour sinnis be.. reid as purpur neuthertheles yai sal be quhit as wow. 1742R. Forbes Ajax etc. Shop Bill (1755) 38 Some are cotton, That's safter far na' ony woo, that grows on mutton. 1839Longfellow 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 (pull, † spread) the wool over (a person's) eyes: to make blind to facts, to hoodwink, to deceive. orig. 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 wool-gathering 2. (e) great (much) cry and little wool (etc.): much talk or clamour with insignificant results (see cry n. 16). (f) all wool and a yard wide and varr., of excellent quality; thoroughly sound or honourable. (g) wool away! (Austral. andN.Z.) (see quot. 1965). (h) to lose one's wool (slang), to lose one's temper; similarly to keep one's wool, etc. (cf. hair n. 8 s and sense 2 c below). (i) Miscellaneous.
(a)1531Tindale Expos. 1 John iv. Wks. (1573) 415/1 He wresteth all the Scriptures & setteth them clean agaynst the woll, to destroy this article. 1546J. Heywood Prov. i. xi. (1867) 30 What should your face thus agayne the woll be shorne For one fall? 1599Breton 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. a1693Urquhart's Rabelais iii. xxxvi. 298 Let us..brush our former Words against the Wool.
(b)1839Jamestown (N.Y.) Jrnl. 24 Apr. 1/6 That lawyer has been trying to spread the wool over your eyes. 1842Spirit of Times (Phila.) 29 Sept. (Th.), Look sharp, or they'll pull wool over your eyes. 1855F. 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. a1859in 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. 1884Howells Silas Lapham vii, I don't propose he shall pull the wool over my eyes.
(c)1579–80,1679[see dye v. 1 c]. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxii. §18 Children as it were in the Wooll of their infancie died with hardnesse may neuer afterwards change colour. 1830D. Webster Sp. in Mass. Spy 10 Feb. (Thornton) In half an hour [he can] come out an original democrat, dyed in the wool. 1840J. P. Kennedy Quodlibet ii. 52 As patent a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat as Theodore Fog himself. 1871College Courant 21 Jan. (Schele de Vere Amer.) A drenching rain has washed the indigo from his new suit dyed in the wool at home, into his skin. 1885J. J. 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. 1900Century Mag. Feb. 503/2 Socialists dyed in the wool. 1903Smart Set IX. 23/2 The governor of Alleghenia is a dyed-in-the-wool scoundrel.
(d)1577T. Kendall Flowers Epigr., Trifles 15 The Papist praies with mouth, his minde on gathering woolle doeth goe. 1603Breton Packet Mad Lett. ii. (1633) 83 For their wits, if they loose not their owne fleeces, let them gather Wool where they can.
(e)c1460Fortescue 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. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 28 Here is..as one said at the shearing of hogs, great cry and litle wool. 1644Prynne Falsities & Forgeries 2 Here is a great cry indeed, but little wool. 1721Kelly Sc. Prov. 165 Humph, quoth the Dee'l when he clip'd the Sow, A great cry, and little Woo. a1734North Life Ld. Kpr. North (1742) 170 For Matter of Title he thought there was more Squeak than Wool. 1809Malkin Gil Blas v. i. (Rtldg.) 201 At first, there was much cry but little wool. 1862A. Hislop Prov. Scot. 142 ‘Mair whistle than woo’, quo' the souter when he sheared the sow.
(f)1882G. W. Peck Peck's Sunshine 85 You want to pick out (as the ‘boss combination girl’ of Rock Co.) a thoroughbred, that is, all wool, a yard wide. 1909[see lallapaloosa]. 1913J. London Valley of Moon 60 You're a live one, all wool, a yard long and a yard wide. 1963L. Meynell Virgin Luck v. 114 It didn't seem to matter so much with people as decent as that about. She was all wool and a yard wide, that one. 1974‘A. Gilbert’ Nice Little Killing iii. 40 No one will ever catch her..with an alibi all wool and a yard wide.
(g)c1897D. McK. Wright in A. E. Woodhouse N.Z. Farm & Station Verse (1950) 33 Wool away! Wool away is the cry And the merry game of busting is begun. 1949P. Newton High Country Days v. 53 The call of ‘wool away’ had lagging fleecies dashing to rescue fleeces before the shearer would be out with his next sheep. 1965J. S. Gunn Terminol. Shearing Industry ii. 38 Wool away, the call of a shearer who wants the picker-up to carry away a fleece. This has to be done after each sheep, and fleeces are not left lying around on the floor while another sheep is being shorn.
(h)1830R. Lower Tom Cladpole's Jurn. cxxxvi, Dat rais'd ma wool. 1890Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang s.v., ‘Keep your wool on,’ don't get angry. 1926‘A. Berkeley’ Wychford Poisoning Case v. 48 ‘All right,’ Alec said soothingly. ‘Keep your wool on.’ 1944D. Welch In Youth is Pleasure v. 87 Dennis said a lot more, growing increasingly vicious with each new sentence... ‘My dear, don't lose your wool,’ she said, mimicking old-fashioned schoolboy slang. 1959[see rag n.1 3 c]. 1967O. Norton Now lying Dead vi. 108, I lost my wool then.
(i)1393Langl. P. Pl. C. x. 264 Thyne sheep ar ner al shabbyd, þe wolf shiteþ woolle. 1583Howard Defensatiue A j b, Wooll driueth backe the Cannon shotte. 1620Shelton Don Quix. ii. lxvii. 455, I would not haue her come for wooll, and returne shorne. 1680C. Blount tr. Philostratus 243 It is ill Wooll that will take no Dye. 1825Waterton Wand. S. Amer. iii. 242 Sancho Panza..says,..many go for wool, and come home shorn. 1864Browning 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 fibre found on certain trees and plants; also, the thick furry hair of some insects or larvæ. Cf. cotton-wool n. 1.
c1400Mandeville (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. 1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 59 b, His Apple or fruite is all ouer apparailed with a certaine kinde of wooll called Cotton. 1578Lyte Dodoens i. lxxxi. 118 The other white Mulleyne..hath white leaues frysed with a soft wooll or Cotton. 1684J. Peter Siege Vienna 108 Sacks of Wool made of Trees. 1731Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Xylon, Seeds..wrapped within that soft ductile Wool, commonly known by the Name of Cotton. 1827–8R. Sweet Flora Austral. 15 Leaves..thickly clothed with white wool. 1831Don Dichlamydeous Pl. I. 513 The wool contained in the fruit is called Samauma in Brazil, with which the natives stuff pillows and bolsters. 1840Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 611 The Noctuælitese... The body is generally clothed with scales rather than with wool. 1885Tennyson Spinster's Sweet-Arts xii, The wool of a thistle a-flyin'. 1895Oliver tr. Kerner's Nat. Hist. Pl. 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 wool, philosophers' wool, (L. lana philosophica), oxide of zinc, deposited as a fine flocculent powder, during the combustion of the metal.
[1596T. Johnson Cornucopiæ C 3 b, A stone named Abeston.., which hath..a kinde of Wooll growing about it.] 1599M[oufet] Silkwormes 74 The smel..of silken wool that's new. 1606Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. i. Tropheis 751 As the rigour of long Cold congeals To harsh hard Wool the running Water-Rils. 1758Reid tr. 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. 1850C. J. Hempel Homœopathic Pharm. 275 Flowers of Zinc, Philosophical Wool. c1865J. Wylde in Circ. Sc. I. 191/2 A flocky-white powder, which has been called ‘philosophers' wool’. 1866Brande & Cox Dict. Sc., etc. II. 886/1 Philosophic Wool. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Wool..a slag of iron blown by steam into a fibrous form. Known as slag-wool, or silicate cotton. 1884Lock Workshop Rec. Ser. iii. 439/2 Slag-wool... The wool..is principally used for covering boilers or steam⁓pipes. 1885[see glass n.1 16].
c. The short, tightly-curled hair of Negroid peoples (depreciating). Also gen. (jocularly), the hair of the head.
1697Lond. 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. 1730Southall Bugs 6 Meeting with an uncommon Negro, the Hair or (rather) Wooll on his Head, Beard, and Breast being as white as Snow. 1767Carteret 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. a1853in ‘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. 1884S. St. John Hayti iv. 146 The principal trouble to the female negro mind is her unfortunate wool.
3. a. Woollen clothing or material; a woollen garment. Sc. phr. amang the woo', in the blankets.
a1300Cursor M. 11112 He..Ne wered noþer wol ne line. 1534More Treat. Passion Wks. 1272/2 How proude is many a man ouer his neighbour, because the wull of hys gowne is fyner? a1625Fletcher Noble Gentl. i. i, A Countrey Fool, good to..eate course bread, weare the worst Wooll. 1818J. Kennedy Poet. Wks. 44 (E.D.D.) They..den amang the woo, Fu' quiet that night. 1882Edith A. Barnett Common-sense Clothing 28 Wear wool in hot weather; do as you please in cold. 1933H. Allen Anthony Adverse II. iv. xxv. 354 ‘I am a little cold after all,’ said Father Xavier, looking at the fire regretfully. ‘A second till I change into my wool.’ 1952M. Laski Village v. 94 The beige silk frock could at last be discarded for a really not-too-bad navy blue wool. 1975Byfield & Tedeschi Solemn High Murder (1976) i. 10 Mueller had taken away his rumpled suit, leaving his heavier wools hanging in the open closet. 1978S. Brill Teamsters ix. 340 The custom-tailored wools that might..have made him look like a well-heeled Wall Street lawyer.
b. The nap of a woollen fabric.
1563Fulke Meteors (1571) 14 Garmentes, whose woll is hyghe, as fryese mantels, and suche lyke. 1577Harrison England ii. i. (1877) i. 34 Such patrons doo scrape the wooll from our [the parsons'] clokes. 1836H. Manwaring Tailors' New Guide 16 First open the cloth with the wool to go with the back seam. 1892N. 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.
1840Mrs. 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. 1849E. 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. 1885Bazaar 30 Mar. 332 Stocking..knitted with German fingering wool.
4. A quantity or supply, or a particular kind or class, of wool. Chiefly in pl.
1399Langl. Rich. Redeles iv. 11 Whane þe countis were caste with þe custum of wullus. c1400Contin. 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. c1470in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 283 The marchauntes comme oure wollys for to bye. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 118 b, They followe..but one kynde of marchaundyse as Woulles or Sylkes. 1586A. Day Engl. Secretorie ii. (1625) 61 Wools are as yet at high rate, but I thinke shortly they will fall. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. xxxiii. 299 If they could make profite of their woolls by sending them into Europe. 1706Lond. Gaz. No. 4288/3 The Wools to be seen at Leathersellers Hall. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 124 Wools have been distinguished in commerce into two classes; fleece wools and dead wools. 1859E. 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, wool basket, wool bin, wool-blanket, wool-bob (bob n.1 6), wool-clip, wool-coat, wool-crop, wool-import, wool-lock, wool-mattress, wool-produce, wool-production, wool-sheet, wool shop, wool-side, wool-tax, wool-top (top n.1 2); = relating to or concerned with the manufacture, storage, transport, or commercial handling of wool or woollen goods, as wool-bill, wool-boat, † wool chamber, wool-dray, wool duty, wool-fair, wool-hall, wool-loft, wool-market, wool quay, wool-room, wool-sale, † wool-ship, wool-store, † wool-tool, wool trade, wool-wain, wool warehouse, wool weight, wool-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), † wool-brogger, wool-broker, wool-burler, wool-buyer, † wool-chapman, wool-classer, wool-cleaner, wool-cutter, wool-dealer, wool-dresser, wool-drier, wool-duster, wool-dyer, wool-factor, wool-farmer, wool-gleaner, wool-grower, wool-holder, wool-jobber, wool-maker, wool-merchant, wool-monger, wool-moter, wool-oiler, wool-picker, wool-printer, wool-puller, wool-roller, wool-scourer, wool-scribbler (scribbler2), wool-scutcher, wool-seller, wool-slubber, wool-washer, wool-wearer, wool-weaver, † wool-webster, wool-weigher; wool-bearing, wool-broking, wool-bundling, wool-burring, wool-classing, wool-cleaning, wool-growing, wool-picking, wool-printing, wool-producing, wool-rearing, wool-scouring, wool-washing ns. and adjs.c. instrumental, similative, and parasynthetic, as wool-backed, wool-fringed, wool-laden, wool-lined, wool-o'erburdened, wool-white, wool-woofed, wool-woven adjs.; also wool-like adj.
1907Westm. Gaz. 26 Oct. 13/2 Soft *wool-backed satin.
1852Mundy Antipodes (1857) 31 Long caravans of drays..laden with *wool-bales, hides, &c.
c1878J. Albery Dram. Wks. (1939) II. 300 Fawley places a note in Haidee's *wool-basket. 1965J. S. Gunn Terminol. Shearing Industry ii. 38 Wool basket. There are several of these containers into which various locks and bellies are thrown to be baled up separately.
1792A. 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.
1933Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 30 Dec. 13/7 *Wool bins, open compartments like stalls in a stable, where wool is stacked by classes until it is pressed. 1974D. Stuart Prince of My Country i. 3 The woolbins loom broad and tall, the press towers above them, there are bales in squat heaps.
1519Registr. Aberdon. (Maitl. Club) II. 174 Ane payr of dowbill *woll blankatis. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 570 It is not that wool-blanket, smothering affair that we were wrapped in down by Buana.
1898Dublin Rev. July 171 The journey was continued in a flat-bottomed *wool-boat.
1891M. M. Dowie Girl in Karp. 101 The lads of the village had..coloured *wool-bobs..in their black felt hats.
a1691Aubrey Nat. Hist. Wilts (1847) 110 Mr. Ludlowe..and his predecessours have been *wooll-breakers 80 or 90 yeares. a1722Lisle Husb. (1757) 427 Wool-breakers..separate the fleeces by themselves that run most of a sort. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 219 Gill-machines of the ordinary construction as represented in the wool-breaker.
1714[Blanch] Beaux Merchant iii. 42 The *Wooll-brogger buys his Wooll in the Summer, and sells out the greatest part in the Winter.
1852T. Baines Hist. Liverpool 756 note, Mr. Thomas Southey, *wool-broker, London.
1871W. Reid Sheep Contents p. vii, *Woolbroking advantageous to the Grower.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Wool-bundling Machine.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Wool-burlers, women who remove the little knots or extraneous matters from wool, and from the surface of woollen cloth.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Wool-burring Machine, a machine for picking the burs from wool.
1641D. Fergusson's Scot. Prov. (S.T.S.) 8 A woole seller kens a *woole buyer. 1775W. Donaldson Agric. 110 The rich grazier, who can..compel the wool⁓buyers to his own terms. 1876J. S. Blackie Lett. (1909) 245 We took dinner..with the big sheep lairds, the wool-buyers and wool-brokers.
1603in Gage Hengrave (1822) 22 Y⊇ graneries; y⊇ *woole chamber.
1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 157 The feete and the skin they sell vnto the *wool⁓chapmen.
1892W. E. Swanton Notes on N.Z. ii. 96 There is the *wool classer with his assistant rollers. 1911W. H. Koebel In Maoriland Bush viii. 122 The wool-classer takes his stand before the sorting table. 1968Guardian 29 Feb. 14/3 Ian Redpath (Victoria), 26. Wool classer. Opening bat.
1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xi, A natural aptitude for *wool-classing.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Wool-cleaner, a machine for cleaning dust, burs, and other foreign matters from wool.
Ibid., Fig. 7345 *Wool⁓cleaning machine.
1904McCabe Haeckel's Evol. Man I. 107 The embryonic *wool-coat usually, in the case of the human embryo, covers the whole body.
1884H. H. Jackson Ramona i, You could reckon up the *wool⁓crop to a pound while it was on the sheep's back.
1723Lond. Gaz. No. 6192/9 Mary Louff.., Coney *Wooll-Cutter.
1819Rees Cycl. s.v. Wool, The English *wool-dealers.
1845D. 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.
1727Arbuthnot Tables Anc. Coins etc. 300 Struthium..is a Root us'd by the *Wool-dressers.
1867Simmonds Dict. Trade Suppl., *Wool⁓drier, a workman who dries wool after washing. 1875Knight 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.
1673–4Earl of 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 y⊇ chief Governr.
1858E. Baines in T. Baines Yorks. (1875) I. 648 *Wool dyers.
1801T. Peck Norwich Direct. 10 Coulsen Ralph, *Wool-Factor.
1806Monthly Mag. June 481/1 At a recent meeting of..wool growers of Glamorganshire, resolutions were adopted for establishing a *wool-fair in that county.
1742Jarvis 2nd Pt. Quix. iii. xvii. II. 258 Pedro Perez the *wool-farmer.
1834M. Scott Cruise Midge xviii, The heavy clouds..had..settled down in a black, *wool-fringed bank.
1899H. Johnston Chron. Glenbuckie xxii. 255 Her profession was that of a *wool⁓gleaner.
1806*wool growers [see wool-fair]. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 11 Oct. 6/3 Mr. Vernon, a wool-grower of Albert Head. 1962Economist 31 Mar. 1275/1 Australian woolgrowers stand to earn {pstlg}24 million more this season. 1971Sunday Australian 8 Aug. 1/5 Half of Australia's 93,000 woolgrowers will get less than $600 each from the Federal Government's new wool subsidy.
1847–54Webster, *Wool-growing, a., producing sheep and wool.
1868Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 42 *Wool-growing would be profitable if it were not for ravenous dogs.
1751Engl. Gazetteer I. s.v. Buckingham, This Town was many years a wool-staple, and many of its *wool-halls are yet standing.
1842J. Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 57 Another meeting of foreign *wool holders.
1919Glasgow Herald 27 June 7 A congestion of *wool imports at the docks.
1775Ash, *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.
1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 159 The straight hairs on the leaves disappear by cultivation, but the *wool-like hairs continue on the stem. 1880C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 251 Dense bodies of white wool-like exhalations fill the deeper valleys.
1824E. Weeton Let. 22 May (1969) II. 270 My *wool-lined beaver gloves. 1891C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 43 He then told me to put on my wool-lined rubber boots.
1382Wyclif Wisd. v. 15 The hope of the vnpitous is as a *wlle loke, or thistil-doun. c1422Hoccleve Lerne to Dye 219 Myn hope is as it were a wolle-loke Which the wynd vp reisith for his lightnesse. c1440Promp. Parv. 534/2 Wullok, villus.
1497Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 245, xix newe cabulles owte of the *Wollofte at Southampton. 1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §887 The wool-loft bears evidence that sheep form a part of the live stock.
1483Cath. Angl. 423/1 A *Wolle maker, lanifex.
1886C. Scott Sheep-farming 192 It will take a long time to cause such a demand for woollen goods as appreciably to affect the *wool-markets.
1899Daily News 11 Sept. 2/6 A mattress invoiced as a ‘*wool mattress’.
1836Pigot & Co's Lond. Commerc. Direct. ii. 315 *Wool merchants and warehouses.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11173 [They] þe porters bede To late in tueie *wolmongers, hor chaffare in to lede. a1400Old Usages Winch. in Engl. Gilds (1870) 353 No wollemongere..ne may habbe no stal in þe heye-stret. 1697View Penal Laws 257 Wool and Woolmongers.
1843Penny Cycl. XXVII. 551/2 Impurities..are afterwards picked out by boys or women, called ‘*wool-moaters’, or ‘wool-pickers’.
1654Blount Acad. Eloq. 47 The *Wool-ore-burthened sheep.
1875Knight 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.
1536Act 28 Hen. VIII c. 4 §1 Weauers, tuckers, spinners, diers, and *wulpikers..haue ben..without worke. 1843[see wool-moter]. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Wool-picker, a machine for burring wool.
1817M. 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.
1867Simmonds Dict. Trade Suppl., *Wool-printer.
1852Earp Gold Col. Austr. 3 The *wool produce of Australia.
1886C. Scott Sheep-farming 186 A *wool-producing breed.
1903Flemming Pract. Tanning 1 The first operation to which sheepskins are subjected by the tanner or *wool-puller is soaking.
1376Rolls of Parlt. II. 351/1 Charges sur les Laynes..al *Wolkey en la Port de Londres. 1476Stonor Papers (Camden) II. 5 The ij pokets woll, beynge at the Wollkey. 1721Act 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.
1901Westm. Gaz. 19 Feb. 10/1 A large *wool-rearing district.
1890Melbourne Argus 20 Sept. 13/7 The fleece he carries to the ‘skirting table,’ where the ‘*wool roller’ stands.
1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §779 The granary and the *wool-room are both seven feet high.
1858Simmonds 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.
1858E. Baines in T. Baines Yorks. (1875) I. 652 *Wool Scourers, Driers, &c.
1860S. Jubb Shoddy-trade 60 *Wool-scouring..has become general, as regards fine foreign and colonial wools.
c1830in Southey Comm.-Pl. Bk. (1851) IV. 491 Mr. Taylor, *wool-scribbler,..City Road. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Wool-scribblers, machines for combing..wool into thin downy translucent layers.
1884Spectator 26 Apr. 548 An ideal *wool-scutcher, with more tearing-power than any other combination of iron teeth. 1641*woole seller [see wool-buyer].
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Wool-sheet, a packing-wrapper for bales of wool.
1481Cely Papers (Camden) 80, I undyrstond be yowr letter that aull the *whowlschypys ar cwm to Calles.
1923Harmsworth's ‘Best Way’ Series No. 95 15/1 Ask at any *wool shop for ‘Beehive’ Recipe Card No. 50 (price 2d.). 1943A. Christie Moving Finger xiii. 147 She was knitting—ever so vexed she'd run out of wool... So I ran her in, dropped her at the wool shop. 1983C. Bowder Birth Rites i. 38 The colour's a bit unusual. It was a discontinued line in my local wool⁓shop.
1903Flemming Pract. Tanning 65 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].
1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 9 The *wool slubber,..after a visit to the beer⁓shop, resumes his task with violence.
1828–43Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) I. 241 The *wool-tax fell heavily upon the inhabitants. 1842J. Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 2 Deputies from the manufacturing districts, anxious for the repeal of the wool tax.
1578Richmond Wills (Surtees) 282 Studills, wheles, card and all *wooll toiles.
14..in Wr.-Wülcker 588/31 Icarpa, a *wolletoppe.
1775Ash, *Wooltrade, the trade of buying and selling wool.
1906Kipling Puck of Pook's Hill viii. 242 They go over to Rye o' Thursday in the *wool-wains.
1808W. Wilson Hist. Diss. Ch. I. 397 The meeting-house in Gravel-lane, was afterwards occupied as a *wool-warehouse.
1884W. 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. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 955/2 ‘Smith's’ wool washer.
1884W. S. B. McLaren Spinning (ed. 2) 38 So much has been heard..of the superior *wool-washing in Verviers.
1553W. 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.
1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 506/2 Lanarius,..a *wooll weauer.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. Prol. 219 *Wollewebsteres and weueres of lynnen.
a1661B. Holyday Juvenal vi. (1673) 123 (Illustr.) The word..is by the Scholiast expounded so, by Lani-pendia (a *wool-weigher).
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Wool weight. The following are the subdivisions used in weighing wool.
1326Cal. Wills Crt. Husting, Lond. i. (1889) 319 Le *Wollewharf. 1423Ibid. ii. (1890) 433.
1818Shelley Rosal. & Helen 1092 The hissing frankincense, Whose smoke, *wool-white as ocean foam, Hung in dense flocks beneath the dome. 1848Tennyson in Mem. (1897) I. 281 Thick wool-white fog.
1821Keats Lamia ii. 179 A sacred tripod..Whose slender feet wide-swerv'd upon the soft *Wool-woofed carpets.
1888G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 198 No more: off with—down he dings His bleachèd both and *wool⁓woven wear.
d. Special comb.: wool alien, a plant introduced into a country by means of imported wool containing its seed; wool-ball (see quot.); † wool-battery, a battery faced with wool-packs built up as a breast-work; wool-bird slang, a lamb; wool-blind Austral. and N.Z., (of a sheep) having its sight obscured by its growth of wool; also ellipt.; hence wool-blindness; † wool-bow (see quot. and bow n.1 13); † wool-butter, butter used to salve the wool of sheep; wool church, one of the English churches built or modified out of the wealth produced by the Tudor wool trade; wool clip = clip n.2 2 b; wool-clipper, a clipper for carrying wool; † 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 hat, (a) a hat made of coarse wool; † (b) U.S., a supporter of the Democratic Party (obs.); (c) U.S., a small farmer, or an unsophisticated or conservative countryman, from the South; also (senses (b) and (c)) wool hat boy; wool-hole Printing, also Printers' slang (see quot.); † wool-hurdle, a sheep-fold; wool king Austral. and N.Z. colloq., a wealthy or large-scale sheep farmer; Woolmark = sheep-mark; an international quality symbol for wool instituted by the International Wool Secretariat; also transf.; † wool-master, an owner of wool-producing sheep; a wool-producer; wool-mill = willy n.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 presser, one who operates a wool press; wool-pulling vbl. n., (a) the removal of wool from a sheepskin; (b) the act of pulling the wool over a person's eyes; deception; 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. and N.Z., 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 table Austral. and N.Z. (see quot. 1965); wool team Austral. and N.Z., a team of draught animals for transporting wool; wool-thistle = woolly-headed thistle (see woolly-headed a); wool-track Austral., a track along which wool was conveyed to a port; wool-tree, any species of Eriodendron; wool-wax, (a) = suint; (b) = lanolin; wool-weed, any species of Eriocaulon (pipewort); † wool-weigh n. [weigh n.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).
1919Hayward & Druce Adventive Flora Tweedside p. xxi, It must not..be assumed that all the *wool aliens will disappear. 1961Proc. Bot. Soc. Brit. Isles IV. 221 The party visited a railway siding in the same county, and further wool aliens were found... On enquiry he found that wool waste (‘shoddy’) was unloaded at the sidings and delivered to local farmers for use as a manure, and when this was followed up foreign weeds were found to be plentiful in their fields. 1976B.S.B.I. News Sept. 22 J. R. Palmer searched hop fields near Wateringbury (Kent) and also found wool aliens present although no ‘shoddy’ has been used here for at least four years.
1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl., *Wool-balls,..masses of Wool compacted into firm and hard balls, and found in the stomachs of sheep.
1852P. 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.
1825C. M. Westmacott Engl. Spy I. 156 The wing of a *wool bird [= shoulder of lamb].
1933,1953*Wool-blind [see eye-clip vb. s.v. eye n.1 28]. 1955J. Morrison in B. James Austral. Short Stories (1963) 158 Worse than pushing a mob of wool-blinds up the ramp of a shearing shed. 1965J. S. Gunn Terminol. Shearing Industry ii. 37 The wig is removed with all the wool during shearing..because, if it is not done, the sheep may become ‘wool-blind’ before shearing time.
1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Oct. 349/3 Through eye clipping, *wool blindness is avoided.
1688Holme 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.
1600Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 352/2 Reddendo..barrellam butiri lie *wollbutter.
1936M. Allis Eng. Prelude xxxiii. 252 Long Melford..with the stately ‘*wool’ church, a miracle of lace in stone and flint. 1950H. J. Massingham Curious Traveller ix. 175 Wild nature is the architect in Pembrokeshire and the massive castles..bear the same architectural relation to cliff and mountain as..the wool-churches of the Cotswolds. 1976Cambridge Independent Press 16 Dec. i. 3/5 An interesting talk, illustrated with coloured slides, on the wool churches of East Anglia was given.
1862Rep. Comm. Patents 1861: Agric. 131 The *wool-clip of New England commands a ready cash market in Boston. 1893Times 18 July 2/6 The wool-clip of the year throughout Australia. 1977Weekly Times (Melbourne) 19 Jan. 3/4 The Corporation had put proposals to the Minister for Primary Industry..to acquire the export portion of the Australian wool clip. 1984N.Z. Farmer 12 Apr. 12/1 The wool clip never strayed far from about 5kg per sheep wintered. 1984Oxf. Illustr. Hist. Brit. iii. 160 Their reserves of liquid capital enabled Italian companies to offer attractive terms. They could not only buy an abbey's entire wool clip for the current year; they could also buy it for years in advance.
1903C. Protheroe Life in Mercantile Marine 4 The Chatto was a full-rigged ship of a thousand odd tons, in reality a *wool-clipper, but being winter time, she was now loaded with tallow and grain. 1924J. Masefield Sard Harker 37 The wool⁓clippers and big four-masters were being squeezed out.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 297 Pallas..fonde vp meny craftes, and specialliche *wolcraft [L. lanificium]. 1398― Barth. De P.R. xv. xliv. (1495) G iij, This londe [sc. Cos] was fyrste endowed wyth wolle crafte.
1555Act 2 & 3 Phil. & Mary c. 13 Yf..the said *Wooll⁓dryver shall sell his sayd Woolles at any other place forthe..of Halyfaxe. 1775W. Donaldson Agric. 111 The wool⁓drivers, or owlers, are the only persons who profit by their necessities.
1832Niles' Weekly Reg. XLIII. 65/2 Messrs. Randolf and Ritchie who are chiefs of the ‘*wool-dyed democrats’ of the present day. 1844G. Dodd Textile Manuf. iii. 97 The distinction between ‘wool-dyed’ cloth and ‘piece-dyed’ cloth. 1904Charlotte (N. Carolina) Observer 19 June 2 Higginson is one of the old abolition gang, is wool-dyed and blind.
1875Chem. News 15 Jan. 26/2 The question as to the composition of the *wool-fat could not be fully solved. 1891Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry X. 709/1 An Improved Manufacture of Saponifiable Fatty Matter from Wool-Fat.
1555Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) 451 A newe charter..by the whiche they have the forfaictures of *woll flocks. 1662Act 14 Charles II c. 18 §1 Whereas..great quantities of Wooll Woolfels..Yarn made of Wool Woolflocks..are secretly exported. 1904Daily Chron. 27 Aug. 7/2 We would not object if Parliament forbade the sale of wool-flock as bedding material.
1550Proclam. 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.].
1482Cely Papers (Camden) 102 Aull *wholl getherars wher sent for be wryt. 1551–2Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI c. 7 §1 The corrupt practises of diverse..Woolgatherers and Regrators.
c1420Pref. Ep. Jerome vi. in Wycliffite Bible (1850) I. 67 *Wulle graithers and fullers.
1854Thoreau Walden xvii. (1863) 331 The arching and sheaf-like top of the *wool-grass. 1856A. Gray Man. Bot. U.S. (1860) 501 Scirpus Eriphorum, Michx. (Wool-Grass.)
1875Chem. News 15 Jan. 26/2 We have examined two fresh kinds of *wool-grease. 1891Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry X. 709/1 Acids generally used in the recovery of wool grease from the waste water from wool washing and combing factories.
1794T. Coxe View U.S. 314 *Wool hats, of Winchester make, are in much repute. 1828Western Intelligencer (Hamilton, Ohio) 3 Oct. 3/1 Thus has Mr. Woods endeavored to gain the votes of the wool hats as he terms his Jackson friends in Washington. 1836Western Hemisphere (Columbus, Ohio) 3 Aug. 1/7 The very men whom a few years ago they called the ‘ragged wool hat boys’ and ‘Tories’, they are now seeking to attach to their [Whig] party!! 1856Encycl. 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. 1880Harper's Mag. Dec. 159 An old ‘wool-hat’ came along with a cart drawn by a single ox. 1898B. H. Young Hist. Jessamine County, Kentucky 163 They made wool hats. 1927K. Eubank Horse & Buggy Days 170, I was a smart boy from town, and this particular guy thought I was a wool-hat boy. 1942J. A. Rice I came out of Eighteenth Cent. ii. 95 South Carolinians liked their hatred to be personal, and the ‘Wool Hat Boys’ whooped with delight when Tillman ripped the hide off the ‘Columbia Ring’ and the Charlestonian gentlemen. 1942Time 21 Sept. 19/3 Georgia's ‘wool-hat’ boys (small farmers). 1960Spectator 2 Sept. 332 The ‘wool-hats’ (i.e. dyed-in-the-wool segregationists) of the rural Tobacco Roads who fear negro competition. 1980Washington Star 29 Sept. a13/5 Carter knows that when..Eugene Talmadge shouted about ‘state's rights’, the ‘woolhats’ of Georgia knew what he was saying.
1841Savage 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 y⊇ *woolhurdle, or the milking pail.
1889G. R. Hart Stray Leaves from Early Hist. Canterbury iii. 19 Founders of the present race of *wool kings in many parts of Canterbury. a1922H. Lawson in Penguin Bk. Austral. Ballads (1964) 156 These are men who died to make the Wool-Kings rich.
1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 93 It is in your power to follow your strayed stock, and claim it any⁓where by the *wool-mark. 1964Wool Future Sept. 1/1 Woolmark, the international quality symbol for pure new wool, will be seen in British and Irish shops for the first time this month. 1980Times 8 July 10/5 To get the Woolmark seal of approval you can only have a minute percentage of gorse..or whatever still stuck on the yarn. 1983D. Dunnett Dolly & Bird of Paradise xi. 141 One or two sheep..with no barbed wire in sight to ruffle their gorgeous Woolmark.
1550–3Decay 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. a1691Aubrey Nat. Hist. Wilts (1847) 110 Our cloathiers combine against the wooll-masters, and keep their spinners but just alive. 1905New Mills Cloth Manufactory Introd. p. lxxx, The woolmasters secured a small advantage.
1819Rees Cycl. XXXVIII. 4 O 3 b, The wool for coarse goods is passed several times through the *wool⁓mill. 1830Boucher Analyt. Dict. 176 The Woolmill, (commonly called the Devil).
1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 887 The *wool-moth then takes up its residence, in summer, amongst such fleeces.
1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 522 *Wool Needles..are short and thick, with blunt points, and long eyes, like those of darning needles.
1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 83 Course *Wool-nippings and Tarry Pitch-marks..having great virtue in them. 1760R. Brown Compl. Farmer ii. 68 Wool-nippings..are beneficial for lands.
1545Rates of Custome Ho. d j, *Woll oyle called trane the tonne. a1585in Engl. Hist. Rev. (1914) XXIX. 519 All our wolle oyles and swete oyles.
1894H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. 225 Wildrake came down with Mr. Craven and the other *wool owners.
1703W. Dampier Voy. III. i. 27 The Inhabitants of this Island..are all Negro's, *Wool-pated like their African neighbours.
1883Browning Jochanan Hakkadosh 18 Hairs silk-soft, silver-white, Such as the *wool-plant's.
1846C. J. Pharazyn Jrnl. 21 Dec. (MS., Turnbull Libr., Wellington, N.Z.) 67 Employed all day at Watarangi assisting in packing fleeces. George making *wool press. 1859H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xxxiv, I dreamed..that the devil had got me under the wool-press, screwing me down as hard as he could.
1892W. E. Swanton Notes on N.Z. ii. 96 There is..the *wool presser and his mate to bale up the wool.
1847J. S. Robb Squatter Life 16 In short I'm up to the whole ‘*wool pulling’ system. 1885Harper'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. 1971D. Bagley Freedom Trap iii. 59, I was given permission to start correspondence courses... It was all a bit of wool-pulling to make them think Rearden was reconciled to his fate.
1911Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of the Darling xi. 101 The wool..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.
1828P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 82 Wooden *wool⁓screw.
1643Orkney 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. 1831Loudon Encycl. Agric. (ed. 2) 373 The wool-shears are..worked with one hand.
1809Med. Jrnl. XXI. 414 A Lad..was wounded in the abdomen by a pair of *wool-shearers.
1846C. J. Pharazyn Jrnl. 11 Dec. (MS., Turnbull Libr., Wellington, N.Z.) 67 Counted rams after breakfast. George finished washing penn at river with Robin and Teddy and self to *wool shed at Watarangi and finished the same. 1850Clutterbuck Port Phillip II. 23 In some instances the flood has swept away the wool-sheds. 1859H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xxiii, Backed by huts, sheep-yards, a wool⁓shed, and the usual concomitants of a flourishing Australian sheep station. 1977N.Z. Herald 8 Jan. 4–7/7 (Advt.), Four-brm home, 3-stand woolshed, barn, yards, airstrip.
1834Tait'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. 1844G. 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. 1880Daily Tel. 10 Dec. 3/8 Henry Slater has died here from ‘woolsorter's disease’.
1858E. Baines in T. Baines Yorks. (1875) I. 653 The *wool sorting done by the proprietors themselves.
1815S. Brookes Conchol. 157 *Woolspinner, Mytilus discors. 1848Blackw. Mag. Aug. 208 In proportion, however, to his taciturnity was the loquaciousness of a woolspinner.
1821Galt Ann. Parish xii. (1895) 85 Superintending..a great *wool-spinning we then had.
1879Simmonds Commerc. Products Sea 159 The [American] grades are glove sponge..*wool sponge..and yellow and hard head.
1858― Dict. Trade, *Wool-stocks, heavy wooden hammers for milling cloth, or driving the threads of the web together.
1865M. A. Barker Let. 1 Dec. in Station Life N.Z. (1870) 32 We next inspected the *wool tables, to which two boys were incessantly bringing armfuls of rolled-up fleeces. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Oct. 310/2 The scrubbing of the shearing board and the wool table is an essential practice. 1965J. S. Gunn Terminol. Shearing Industry ii. 40 Wool table, a table of spaced ridged lateral slats on which the fleece is rolled and skirted and the pieces picked. Any loose locks fall through to be picked up.
1865R. Henning Let. 18 Feb. (1952) 82/3 Biddulph..has sent both the bullock-drivers to the Port with the *wool-teams. 1959H. P. Tritton Time means Tucker v. 41/2 Yarragrin..was also famous as a camp for the wool-teams, coming in from the north-west.
1769J. Hill Herb. Brit., *Wool-thistle.
1903‘T. Collins’ Such is Life (1937) vi. 317 These *wool-tracks, that knew him so well, will know him no more again for ever. 1959J. Wright Generations of Men (1960) xvii. 217 They followed a line through the trees that led southward across the road, once an important wool-track to the coastal ports.
1831Don Dichlamydeous Pl. I. 512 Eriodendron leiantherum..Smooth-anthered *Wool-tree.
1911Encycl. Brit. XX. 51/2 An exceptional position [among animal waxes] is occupied by *wool wax, the main constituent of the natural wool fat which covers the hair of sheep... Wool fat is now being purified on a large scale and brought into commerce, under the name of lanolin, as an ointment. 1943Thorpe's Dict. Appl. Chem. (ed. 4) VI. 135/2 Wool grease (wool fat..) is the crude mixture of wool wax and fatty acids recovered from the soapy liquor used for the scouring of raw wool. Ibid., Crude wool grease is used as a lubricant..; some is refined for use as ‘lanolin’ (pure wool wax) in..cosmetics,..rust preventives, etc. 1954[see degras, dégras b]. 1956Nature 10 Mar. 470/1 Further work was carried out..on the formation of polyacrylonitrile in wool and on suint and wool wax. 1964N. G. Clark Mod. Organic Chem. xvii. 340 Wool wax occurs to the extent of 20 to 30 per cent in raw sheep's wool. 1966Gettens & Stout Painting Materials 81 Wool Wax..is the natural grease from the fleece of sheep.
1772J. Hill Veg. Syst. X. 26 *Woollweed. Eriocaulon.
c1100Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 148/21 Campana, *wulwæᵹa. 1533Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 451 Ane pair of woll weyiss, ane pair of ballendis of brass, [etc.].
a1661B. Holyday Juvenal vi. (1673) 100 Illustr. 123 Wo to the *Wool⁓weigh-maide.
1630in Ramsay Bamff Charters (1915) 223 Ane *woll qwheill. a1806Jas. Thomson Poems (1894) 233 A gude woo' wheel, my wife to spin on. 1865Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. iv, A woman stands at the great wool⁓wheel, one arm extended, the other holding the thread.
1905A. 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.
1429Rolls of Parlt. IV. 360/2 Grete quantite of fyne *Wolle yerne. 1556Richmond Wills (Surtees) 88 To Jenet my doghter, all my wolle and wolle yarne. 1863J. Watson Weaving 39 Wool yarn is spun from the short fibres of the fleece.., and Worsted yarn from the long staple.
▸ wool jobbing n. now hist. the practice of buying and reselling wool for profit.
1606R. Bowyer Diary 1 May in Parl. Diary (1931) 141 Sir Edw[ard] Hobby brought his Councell to the Barr to shew Cause why certaine Letters Patents made unto him for *Wooll jobbing and brogging, should be no Grievance. 1753J. Smith Rev. Manufacturer's Complaint against Wool Grower II. 25 The business of Wool Jobbing is a Matter of Dispute in this Kingdom, old as the Manufacture itself. 1829S. Gibbon Recoll. 18 Foolish Denis Kelly and his wool-jobbing at Ballinasloe. 2005J. A. Stratton & L. H. Mannix Mind & Hand vii. 142 He proved to be an avid salesman for a wool-jobbing firm.
▪ II. wool, v.|wʊl|
[f. wool n. (Cf. OE. wullian to wipe with wool.)]
1. trans.
†a. To coat or line with wool. Obs.
1660in N. & Q. 7th Ser. XII. 67/2 One Richard Bailey, who..is also very skilfull in the Art of Oyling of Linnen Cloath or Taffaty, or Woolling of either, so as to make it Impenetrable.
b. To stuff up with wool.
1883‘Ouida’ Wanda viii, I feel as if some hand had woolled up my ears.
2. U.S. slang.
a. To pull the ‘wool’ or hair of (a person) in sport or (esp.) in anger.
c1831A. Lincoln in H. Binns Life Lincoln (1927) 34, I never use tussle and scuffle. I don't like this wooling and pulling. 1854in Congressional Globe July 1690 (Thornton), I regret very much to see these two gentlemen from Illinois wooling each other in the most approved fashion. 1869Le Fanu Wyvern Myst. I. 163 The more you and the old boy wool each other the better for Hal. 1894H. H. Gardener Unoff. Patriot 315 Wool little Margaret's curly pate for me.
b. To ‘pull the wool over the eyes of’: see quot.
1890Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang, Wool, to (common), to get the better of, to discomfit. |