woollen, a. and n.
(ˈwʊlɪn)
Forms: 1, 5 wullen, 4–6 wolen, 4–7 wollen, (4 -ene, wolyn, wullun, 4–5 wollin, 5 -yn, wolland, -on, 6 wolan, woulne, Sc. volene, woone, 7 wollan, 8–9 north. woon, woun), 6– woollen, (now U.S.) woolen.
[Late OE. wullen, f. wull wool n. + -en4, replacing the mutated form wyllen (= OHG., MHG. wullîn). Cf. (M)LG. wullen, (M)Du. wollen, Fris., G. wollen.]
A. adj.
1. Made of or manufactured from wool.
| 1046 in Kemble Cod. Dipl. IV. 107 Ic ᵹe-an sancte æðelðryðe anes wullenan kyrtles. 13.. K. Alis. 4445 (Laud MS.), Þe spere carf þorouȝ out As þorouȝ a wollene clout. 1376 Rolls of Parlt. II. 353/1 File de Layn appelle Wolyn-yerne. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 215 My wyf was a webbe and wollen cloth made. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. i. 32 Þen take a quantyte of wollen cloþe. 1556 Extr. Aberd. Regr. (1844) I. 300 Scottis wairis, sic as claith, lynning and woone. 1575 A. Fleming Virg. Bucol. iii. 9 Nowe doth the Ram, and other sheepe theyr wollen garments drye. 1674 Essex Papers (Camden) I. 278 Woollen Yarne being within y⊇ prohibition of y⊇ aforsaid Acts. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. i. i. I. 13 The woollen coat..which covers the day-labourer. 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 41 Coarse woollen stockings. 1815 Elphinstone Acc. Caubul (1842) I. 183 In winter, the people are all clad in woollen garments. 1858 Lardner Hand-bk. Nat. Phil. 403 A woollen carpet is a non-conductor of heat. 1884 W. S. B. Maclaren Spinning 60 A woollen yarn..is a thread spun from wool in which the fibres are arranged so as to lie in every direction. |
† b. Covered with (a fleece of) wool.
Obs. rare.
| 1482 in Charters &c. Edin. (1871) 169 Of the hundreth skynnis, wollin, calfis, gaittis, [etc.] |
† c. fig. Silent, as if padded with wool: said of the feet or footsteps.
Obs. After L.
pedes laneos or
lanatos habere, ‘to have woollen feet’, to walk silently, to move unperceived.
| 1597 J. King On Jonas (1618) 173 Following with wollen feet, but smiting with an arme of iron. 1617 Collins Def. Bp. Ely ii. ix. 362 You shall find..woollen pace and iron vengeance. |
¶ The allusion in the foll.
quot. is uncertain.
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 56 There is no firme reason..Why he cannot abide a gaping Pigge?.. Why he a woollen bag-pipe. [See 1876 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 43/2 s.v. Bagpipe.] |
† 2. Wearing woollen clothing, (
a) as a mark of penance (
cf. woolward a.), (
b) as a mark of poor or lowly status.
Obs.| 1481 Caxton Godfrey cci. 293 By comyn acord of the bisshoppes they cam wullen and barfote in the chirche of our lord. 1607 Shakes. Cor. iii. ii. 9, I muse my Mother Do's not approue me further, who was wont To call them Wollen Vassailes, things created To buy and sell with Groats. |
B. n. Cloth or other fabric made of wool or chiefly of wool. Now
rare.
† to lie in the woollen: to sleep with a blanket next to one.
to be buried in woollen: to have a woollen shroud, as required by the Act of 18 & 19
Chas. II for the encouragement of the woollen manufacture.
| a 1300 Fragm. 7 Sins 16 in E.E.P. (1862) 19 Linin, wollin, glouis and schone. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 18 He hihte þe eorþe to seruen ow vchone Of wollene, Of linnene. a 1425 Cursor M. 11112 (Trin.) He wered nouþer wollen ny lynne. 1459 Paston Lett. I. 457 Vesselys or vestmentes of sylke, lynen, or wollyn. 1577 Googe Heresbach's Husb. 122 In Winter, they would be clothed with Wollen for taking of cold. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 33, I could not endure a husband with a beard on his face, I had rather lie in the woollen. 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 309 His Breeches were of rugged Woollen. 1666 Act 18 & 19 Chas. II c. 4 (title) An Act for Burying in Woollen onely. 1719 D'Urfey Pills III. 187 Let 'em damn us to Woolen, I'll never repine At my Lodging when Dead. 1778 D. Loch Tour Scot. 14 There are several looms employed here..for linens and coarse woolen, adapted for country use. 1791 A. Macaulay Hist. Claybrook 116 An affidavit was sent..of the body having been buried in woolen in Saint Pancras church-yard. 1836 C. Wordsworth Athens v. (1855) 27 Over which is a shorter vest of woollen. 1885 Ada S. Ballin Sci. Dress 128 Woollen should be worn not only in winter but in summer also. 1908 Animal Managem. 73 Knee caps..are made of stout woollen or kersey. |
b. pl. Woollen cloths or clothes.
| 1800 Stuart in Owen Wellesley's Desp. (1877) 577 A great quantity of English goods, particularly woollens, found their way into that country. 1816 Tuckey Narr. Exped. R. Zaire ii. (1818) 52 Instead of melting under an equinoctial sun in the lightest cloathing,..they were glad to resume their woolens. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 53 They grew small sallad by means of woollens, in which the seeds were sown. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. III. iv. 358 The exportation of Irish woollens to the colonies and to foreign countries was prohibited. |
¶ A proposed name for the Mullein,
Verbascum Thapsus, formed by substituting
wull,
woll wool n. for the first syllable (but
cf. MLG. wullene ‘? verbascum’).
| 1578 [see wolleyn]. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cclvi. 630 Mullein is called..in English Mullein, or rather Woolen. 1866 Treas. Bot., Woollen. Verbascum Thapsus. |
C. attrib. and
Comb. (chiefly of the
n.):
a. simple
attrib., as
woollen † -card,
woollen district,
woollen-loom,
woollen manufacture,
woollen-mill,
woollen-trade,
woollen-weaving;
b. objective, as
woollen-dyer,
woollen-manufacturer,
woollen scribbler (
scribbler2),
woollen-spinner,
† woollen-webster,
woollen-worker;
c. instrumental and parasynthetic, as
woollen-clad,
woollen-frocked,
woollen-stockinged adjs.;
d. Special comb.:
Woollen Act, the act of 18 & 19
Chas. II prescribing burial in woollen;
† woollen-going vbl. n. = woolward going (see
woolward b);
† woollen-head, a thick-headed or dull person (in
quot. attrib.);
† woollen-witted a.,
= woolly-headed c;
woollen-work,
† (
a) woollen manufacture; (
b)
= wool-work. Also
woollen-draper.
| 1678 Dryden Œdipus Prol. 36 Record it,..The first Play bury'd since the *Wollen Act. |
| 1612 Sc. Bk. Rates in Halyburton's Ledger (1867) 294 Cardes called *wollen cardes. |
| 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 162 The *woollen-clad soldiers of Alexander. |
| c 1890 W. H. Casmey Ventilation 14 In the *woollen districts. |
| 1709 Lond. Gaz. No. 4611/4 James Ford of Bow,..*Woollen-dyer. |
| 1864 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. x. (1866) 175 An imperial penitent, standing barefoot and *woollen-frocked on the snow. |
| 1493 [H. Parker] Dives & Pauper i. xxxvi. (W. de W. 1496) 76/1 All they that vse..masses syngynge, fastynges,..*wullen goeynge, and such other in theyr wytchecrafte. |
| 1756 W. Toldervy Hist. 2 Orphans III. 31 Proving to that *woollen-head justice, that we are neither felons nor vagrants, tho' he was disposed to call us so. |
| 1538 Nottingham Rec. III. 200 Unum *wollenlome. 1565 Burgh Rec. Prestwich 15 Oct. (Maitl. Club) 69 Ane volene lwyme. |
| 1666 Act 18 & 19 Chas. II c. 4 For the Encouragement of the *Woollen Manufactures of this Kingdom..Be it enacted [etc.]. 1726 Swift Gulliver i. viii. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Emp. (1854) I. 277 Various branches of the woollen manufacture have been introduced into Roxburghshire. |
| 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. ii. §2 Other manufacturers, as well as the *woollen. 1802 Ann. Reg., Chron. 67 The woollen-manufacturers are incensed at the introduction of new machinery. |
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 72 At Bannockburn and Stirling, are a few *woollen-mills. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Woollen-scribblers,..machines for combing or preparing wool into thin downy translucent layers. |
| 1884 W. S. B. Maclaren Spinning (ed. 2) 61 The object of the *woollen-spinner will always be to have yarn in which [etc.]. |
| 1907 Daily Chron. 7 Dec. 4/4 Women, thick-booted, *woollen-stockinged, flannel-petticoated. |
| 1735 Berkeley Querist §89 Our hankering after the *Woollen-Trade. 1842 J. Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 68 The wool and woollen trade. |
| 1588 Kyd Househ. Phil. Wks. (1901) 272 [A wife's] principall care should be of Lynnen or of *wollen weauing. 1630 tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. i. 119 Other such like stuffes of linnen and woollen weauing. |
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 99 (MS. T.) *Wollene websteris and weueris of lynen. 1638 Knaresb. Wills (Surtees) II. 170, I, Richard Umpelbie of Linelandes, wollan webster. |
| ? 1622 Fletcher Love's Cure ii. i, Thou *Woollen-witted Hose⁓heeler. 1635 Shirley Lady Pleas. iii. (1637) G 1, Course woollen witted fellowes. |
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 423/1 *Wolland warke.., lanificium. 1866 All Year Round XV. 189/2 Four young ladies, carrying baskets of woollen-work. |
| 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 287 The arrival from the Spanish Netherlands of *woollen-workers. |