woolly
or wool·y
[woo l-ee]
- consisting of wool: a woolly fleece.
- resembling wool in texture or appearance: woolly hair.
- clothed or covered with wool or something resembling it: a woolly caterpillar.
- Botany. covered with a pubescence of long, soft hairs resembling wool.
- like the rough, vigorous atmosphere of the early West in America: wild and woolly.
- fuzzy; unclear; disorganized: woolly thinking.
Show More
- Western U.S. a wool-bearing animal; sheep.
- Usually woollies. a knitted undergarment of wool or other fiber.
- any woolen garment, as a sweater.
- Dialect. a dust ball.
Show More
Origin of woolly
Regional variation note
10. See dust ball.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for woolly
Contemporary Examples
An army of Wildlings, some giants, and a woolly mammoth or two?
Rockefeller Republicans have long gone the way of the woolly mammoth.
And every second belief in the world is a woolly superstition.
In a typical post, she wears a crazy-looking pinafore with an outrageous collar, round-frame shades, and thick, woolly knee socks.
Did she learn from the New York 23rd District election that being a moderate Republican is a lot like being a woolly mammoth?
Historical Examples
Some came from the interior of Africa and had woolly hair and thick lips.
Ancient ManHendrik Willem van Loon
Atrotomentosus is from ater, black, and tomentum, woolly or downy.
The Mushroom, Edible and OtherwiseM. E. Hard
They covered the horse all up, so that he looked for all the world like a sheep, woolly.
The Woman-HatersJoseph C. Lincoln
The big negro looked sheepish and scratched his woolly head.
The Affair of the BrainsAnthony Gilmore
We intend testing the woolly sheep when we get settled there.
Official Report of the Niger Valley Exploring PartyMartin Robinson Delany
woolly
sometimes US wooly
- consisting of, resembling, or having the nature of wool
- covered or clothed in wool or something resembling it
- lacking clarity or substancewoolly thinking
- botany covered with long soft whitish hairswoolly stems
- US recalling the rough and lawless period of the early West of America (esp in the phrase wild and woolly)
Show More
- (often plural) a garment, such as a sweater, made of wool or something similar
- Western US and Australian (usually plural) an informal word for sheep
Show More
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012