vegetable wool

American  

noun

1. wool5

---

Etymology

Origin of vegetable wool

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

This was the vegetable wool of the ancients, which many learned authorities have identified with the byssus, in bandages of cloth made from which the old Egyptians wrapped their mummies.

From The Romance of Industry and Invention by Cochrane, Robert

This was because of the 'vested interests' in wool and silk, which combined to keep out the vegetable wool from general use.

From The Romance of Industry and Invention by Cochrane, Robert

Alexander the Great introduced the "vegetable wool" into Europe.

From The Age of Invention : a chronicle of mechanical conquest by Thompson, Holland

He then showed her the vegetable wool and vegetable hair he had collected, and told her where they grew.

From Foul Play by Reade, Charles

And yet both Africa and America made cotton cloth from the vegetable wool long before we knew of it otherwise than as a traveller's wonder.

From The Romance of Industry and Invention by Cochrane, Robert