Library / English Dictionary

WOOL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Outer coat of especially sheep and yaks

Synonyms:

fleece; wool

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("wool" is a kind of...):

coat; pelage (growth of hair or wool or fur covering the body of an animal)

Derivation:

woolly; wooly (covered with dense often matted or curly hairs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A fabric made from the hair of sheep

Synonyms:

wool; woolen; woollen

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("wool" is a kind of...):

cloth; fabric; material; textile (artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers)

Holonyms ("wool" is a substance of...):

tweed (thick woolen fabric used for clothing; originated in Scotland)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Fiber sheared from animals (such as sheep) and twisted into yarn for weaving

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("wool" is a kind of...):

animal fiber; animal fibre (fiber derived from animals)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wool"):

Shetland wool (a wool obtained from sheep of the Shetland islands)

raw wool (wool in its natural condition; not refined or processed)

alpaca (wool of the alpaca)

cashmere (the wool of the Kashmir goat)

fleece (the wool of a sheep or similar animal)

shoddy (reclaimed wool fiber)

vicuna (the wool of the vicuna)

virgin wool (wool not used before; wool not processed or woven before)

Credits

 Context examples: 

"An' when he feenish da iron' he washa da wools," as she described it afterward.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

There again was a bearded brother with a broad-headed axe and a bundle of faggots upon his shoulders, while beside him walked another with the shears under his arm and the white wool still clinging to his whiter gown.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"He say, 'Maria, you are da greata fool. I showa you how to washa da wools,' an' he shows me, too. Ten minutes he maka da machine—one barrel, one wheel-hub, two poles, justa like dat."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Here came the merchandise of all the fair countries which are watered by the Garonne and the Dordogne—the cloths of the south, the skins of Guienne, the wines of the Medoc—to be borne away to Hull, Exeter, Dartmouth, Bristol or Chester, in exchange for the wools and woolfels of England.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)