woolly

English

Alternative forms

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwʊli/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (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.

   Put on a woolly jumper and turn down the thermostat.

   • 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.

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) Unclear, fuzzy, hazy, cloudy.

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

   • 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.

4. (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, [Act I, scene iii]:

     woolly breeders

5. (slang, archaic) Cross; irritable.
   • 1911, Shoe and Leather Journal, volume 25, page 27:

     […] and don't get woolly because some of your little "deals" don't come off. You'd soon consider yourself the superior of God Almighty Himself if He didn't set you in your place once in a while.

Derived terms

• wild and woolly
• woolly adelgid
• woolly aphid
• woollyback
• woolly bear
• woolly bear caterpillar
• woolly bluecurls
• woolly fringe moss
• woolly-haired
• woolly hat
• woolly-head
• woolly-headed
• woolly hippopotamus
• woollyish
• woolly lemur
• woolly mammoth
• woolly-minded
• woolly monkey
• woolly mouse opossum
• woolly nightshade
• woolly opossum
• woolly poison
• woolly rhino
• woolly rhinoceros
• woolly woofter
• woolly worm

 

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)

unclear, fuzzy, hazy, cloudy

• Bulgarian: неясен (bg) (nejasen), объркан (bg) (obǎrkan)
• German: blumig (de), wolkig (de), verklärt (de), 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 woolly back.

Noun

woolly (plural woollies)

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