woolly

woolly

English

Alternative forms

• wooly (chiefly used in the US, but less common than woolly even there)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwʊli/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊli

Etymology 1

From Middle English wolly, equivalent to wool +‎ -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian wullich (“woolly”), Dutch wollig (“woolly”), German wollig (“woolly”), Swedish ullig (“woolly”).

Adjective

woolly (comparative woollier, superlative woolliest)

1. Made of wool.
   • 1995 [1969], Gilbert Adair, transl., A Void, translation of La Disparition by Georges Perec:

     Sporting a woolly cardigan with four buttons on top of an Oxford smock without a collar, our man has a faintly folksy look about him, calling to mind a zingaro or a gypsy, a carny or a Mongol, but also (switching to a wholly distinct mythology and iconography) a hippy strumming his guitar in a barroom in Haight-Ashbury or at Big Sur or in Katmandu.

   Put on a woolly jumper and turn down the thermostat.

2. Having a thick, soft texture, as if made of wool.

   woolly hair

   There was nothing left in the fruit bowl but a brown banana and a couple of woolly pears.

   • 1966, Nina Simone (lyrics and music), “Four Women”, in Wild Is the Wind:

     My skin is black / My arms are long / My hair is woolly / My back is strong

3. (figuratively, of thinking, principles, etc.) Based on emotions rather than logic.

   That's the sort of woolly thinking that causes wars to start.

4. (figuratively) Unclear, fuzzy, hazy, cloudy.
   • 2011, David Bellos, chapter 29, in Is that a Fish in Your Ear?:

     To call David Lean's Dr Zhivago a translation of Pasternak's novel is not only to disregard the specificity of film art, but to make such woolly use of the word ‘translation’ as to fit it to refer to any kind of transformation. Knitting included.

5. (obsolete) Clothed in wool.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iii]:

     woolly breeders

Derived terms

• woolly hat
• woolly-haired
• woolly-head
• woolly-headed
• woolly-minded
• woollyback
• woollyish

Translations

made of wool

Bulgarian: вълнен (bg) (vǎlnen) Catalan: llanós Dutch: wollig (nl) French: laineux (fr) Friulian: lanôs German: wollen (de), Woll- Greek: μάλλινος (el) (mállinos) Hungarian: gyapjú (hu) Hunsrik: wollich Irish: olla, olanda Italian: lanoso Macedonian: во́лнен (vólnen) Polish: wełniany (pl) m Portuguese: lanoso (pt) Romanian: lânos (ro) Russian: шерстяно́й (ru) (šerstjanój) Spanish: lanoso (es) Turkish: yünlü (tr) Welsh: gwlanog (cy)

having a thick, soft texture, as if made of wool

German: wollartig, wollig (de), zottig, schwammig (de), lose (de) Macedonian: ру́нтав (rúntav), вла́кнест (vláknest) Swedish: ullig (sv)

of thinking, principles, etc, based on emotion rather than logic

German: blumig (de), wolkig (de), verklärt (de)

unclear, fuzzy, hazy, cloudy

Bulgarian: неясен (bg) (nejasen), объркан (bg) (obǎrkan) German: unscharf (de), verschwommen (de), schwammig (de), vage (de), unkonkret Macedonian: не́јасен (néjasen)

Noun

woolly (plural woollies)

1. (informal) A sweater or similar garment made of wool.
   • 1965, James Holledge, What Makes a Call Girl?, London: Horwitz Publications, page 82:

     `I've got a rotten cold and I'm not taking my woollies off until it's better.'

   • 1987, Kerry Cue, Hang On To Your Horses Doovers, page 83:

     Being an innocent Australian abroad in a European winter, I had taken with me every winter woolly I could borrow or squeeze out of friends and associates.

2. (US, slang) A sheep not yet shorn.
3. A piece of woolwork.

Etymology 2

From woolyback.

Noun

woolly (plural woollies)

1. (Liverpudlian slang, derogatory) A woolly back; someone from the area around Liverpool, not from Liverpool itself.