Adjacent Words

Woolly definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WOOLLY, a.
1. Consisting of wool; as a woolly covering; a woolly fleece.
2. Resembling wool; as woolly hair.
3. Clothed with wool; as woolly breeders.
4. In botany, clothed with a pubescence resembling wool.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: having a fluffy character or appearance [syn: flocculent, woolly, wooly]
2: confused and vague; used especially of thinking; "muddleheaded ideas"; "your addled little brain"; "woolly thinking"; "woolly-headed ideas" [syn: addled, befuddled, muddled, muzzy, woolly, wooly, woolly-headed, wooly-minded]
3: covered with dense often matted or curly hairs; "woolly lambs" [syn: wooly, woolly, wooly-haired, woolly- haired]
4: covered with dense cottony hairs or hairlike filaments; "the woolly aphid has a lanate coat resembling cotton" [syn: lanate, woolly]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective also wooly (woollier; -est) Date: 15th century 1. a. resembling wool b. of, relating to, or bearing wool 2. a. lacking in clearness or sharpness of outline <a woolly TV picture> b. marked by mental confusion <woolly thinking> 3. marked by boisterous roughness or lack of order or restraint <where the West is still woolly — Paul Schubert> — used especially in the phrase wild and woolly • woollily adverb • woolliness noun II. noun also wooly or woolie (plural woollies; also woolies) Date: circa 1865 1. a garment made from wool; especially underclothing of knitted wool — usually used in plural 2. West & Australian sheep

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. (woollier, woolliest) 1 bearing or naturally covered with wool or wool-like hair. 2 resembling or suggesting wool (woolly clouds). 3 (of a sound) indistinct. 4 (of thought) vague or confused. 5 Bot. downy. 6 lacking in definition, luminosity, or incisiveness. --n. (pl. -ies) colloq. a woollen garment, esp. a knitted pullover. Phrases and idioms: woolly-bear a large hairy caterpillar, esp. of the tiger moth. Derivatives: woolliness n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Woolly Wool"ly, a. 1. Consisting of wool; as, a woolly covering; a woolly fleece. 2. Resembling wool; of the nature of wool. ``My fleece of woolly hair.'' --Shak. 3. Clothed with wool. ``Woolly breeders.'' --Shak. 4. (Bot.) Clothed with a fine, curly pubescence resembling wool. Woolly bear (Zo["o]l.), the hairy larva of several species of bombycid moths. The most common species in the United States are the salt-marsh caterpillar (see under Salt), the black and red woolly bear, or larva of the Isabella moth (see Illust., under Isabella Moth), and the yellow woolly bear, or larva of the American ermine moth (Spilosoma Virginica). Woolly butt (Bot.), an Australian tree (Eucalyptus longifolia), so named because of its fibrous bark. Woolly louse (Zo["o]l.), a plant louse (Schizoneura, or Erisoma, lanigera) which is often very injurious to the apple tree. It is covered with a dense coat of white filaments somewhat resembling fine wool or cotton. In exists in two forms, one of which infests the roots, the other the branches. See Illust. under Blight. Woolly macaco (Zo["o]l.), the mongoose lemur. Woolly maki (Zo["o]l.), a long-tailed lemur (Indris laniger) native of Madagascar, having fur somewhat like wool; -- called also avahi, and woolly lemur. Woolly monkey (Zo["o]l.), any South American monkey of the genus Lagothrix, as the caparro. Woolly rhinoceros (Paleon.), an extinct rhinoceros (Rhinoceros tichorhinus) which inhabited the arctic regions, and was covered with a dense coat of woolly hair. It has been found frozen in the ice of Siberia, with the flesh and hair well preserved.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(woollies) Note: in AM, also use 'wooly' 1. Something that is woolly is made of wool or looks like wool. She wore this woolly hat with pompoms. ADJ: usu ADJ n 2. A woolly is a woollen piece of clothing, especially a sweater. (BRIT INFORMAL) N-COUNT 3. If you describe a person or their ideas as woolly, you are criticizing them for being confused or vague. ...a weak and woolly Government... ADJ [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Downy, like wool. 2. Downy, covered with wool, nappy. 3. (Bot.) Lanuginous, downy.

Moby Thesaurus

bristly, bushy, cirrose, downy, feathery, fleecy, flocculent, flossy, fluffy, furry, fuzzy, hairy, hirsute, hispid, lanate, matted, pilose, pubescent, shagged, shaggy, unshorn, whiskered